The most anticipated match of the tournament lived up to expectations and after five sets of drama, tension and electric shots, it was Frances Tiafoe who overcame his American compatriot Ben Shelton.
When push came to shove, the 26-year-old Tiafoe’s experience came to the fore. Despite squandering 16 of 21 break points, he remained calm and, to some extent, controlled his own shooting instincts to ensure he was more solid than his 21-year-old opponent.
Shelton served well, especially on break points, but made too many unforced errors – 58 to be exact. His forehand was especially wild, as he hit the ball with totally unnecessary force.
It was a rematch of last year’s quarter-final, which Shelton won. And, as in 2023, the prize is a likely date with Novak Djokovic, who faced Australian Alexei Popyrin in the evening session.
Djokovic is Djokovic, but it is baffling that his match was chosen for prime time ahead of this one. A clash between two greats of entertainment, the very definition of a night match.
Frances Tiafoe won a tough third-round match against Ben Shelton in five sets at the US Open
Tiafoe, 27 and ranked 20th in the ATP rankings, caused a surprise despite being older than Shelton, ranked 13th.
Shelton, 21, struggled in the final set and fell 3-1 early on, while Tiafoe prevailed.
At first, Ashe was less than a third full, and although everyone gradually trickled in, the atmosphere was not as electric as it would have been under the lights.
These two looked like the superstars they are, both sleeveless, Tiafoe in lavender, Shelton in blue that faded into pink. These two are close friends and several times they locked eyes across the court, not out of spite but simply to share the joy of a good point or the tension of a crucial point.
Shelton was comfortably the better player in the first set, but Tiafoe responded.
In the second set, when the score was 3-3 and then 4-4, Tiafoe was 0-40 on Shelton’s serve, but the youngster twice fought his way to safety. He saved eight break points in those two games, one of them with an ace at 223 km/h (the fastest?). There were plenty of good serves, but Tiafoe had enough attacking ability to have taken advantage of them.
But he came back at 5-5 and this time he only needed one chance to break serve. He jumped up into his chair and roared into the crowd and with that the match really came to life.
Tiafoe’s win over Shelton on Thursday was revenge for last year’s quarterfinal loss in Queens.
At the start of the third set, Shelton’s coach and father, Bryan, a former world No. 52, gave his son the following advice from the stands: “Take away court position from this kid. Get the ball early and don’t get it back too far.”
Legalizing on-field training has its pros and cons, but it’s a fascinating look at the game plan.
Shelton effectively stormed up the court and took a 6-0 lead into the third-set tiebreak. Tiafoe dragged it back to 6-5, but Shelton loaded the gun and fired a 143 mph serve, the fastest serve of the tournament so far.
But Shelton began to tire and his game began to weaken. Tiafoe redoubled his intensity and swept the final two sets.
One American challenger down, another moving forward in his quest to win the first U.S. men’s title here since Andy Roddick in 2003.
