Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

No. 20 seed Frances Tiafoe avenged his loss to No. 13 Ben Shelton in the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year, outlasting his fellow American 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 on Friday in a thrilling third-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

With the four-hour, six-minute win, the 26-year-old Tiafoe advanced to his fifth straight round of 16 at the U.S. Open, something no American man had done since Andre Agassi in 2005.

“I’ve got to say, Ben’s an incredible player, man. He’s an incredible player. He really is,” Tiafoe said in a post-match interview. “He goes for all kind of shots. He’s got no care in the world. It’s really annoying. … He’s really talented. He can come up with great shots. So can I. It’s highlight after highlight. I hope you guys enjoyed the show.”

After Shelton took the first set, he went ahead 5-4 but Tiafoe broke the 21-year-old’s serve to take a 6-5 lead en route to winning the second set.

In a tight third set, Tiafoe staved off set point and forced a tiebreaker. Shelton grabbed a 6-0 lead, but Tiafoe held five straight set points, capitalizing on his opponent’s errors. Shelton, however, recovered to close out the third set with a 143-mph serve.

Leading 5-4 in the fourth set, Tiafoe broke Shelton’s serve to win the set 6-4, setting the stage for the decisive fifth set. Tiafoe took the early advantage by breaking Shelton for a 3-1 lead and eventually put it away on his second match point.

Shelton posted 63 winners to Tiafoe’s 44 but committed 58 unforced errors compared to 27 for Tiafoe. Shelton finished with 23 aces to just five for Tiafoe, who saved 4 of 7 break points while his opponent saved 16 of 21.

Tiafoe will next face the winner of No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia against No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia, who were scheduled to play later on Friday.

In other action, No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over qualifier Francisco Comesana of Argentina.

With the win, Fritz is the first American man since Agassi in 2003 to reach the round of 16 at all four majors in the same year. He awaits the winner of No. 8 seed Christian Ruud of Norway against Juncheng Shang of China, who played later Friday.

No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia and No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria will face off in the round of 16 after straight-sets victories.

Rublev defeated No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, while Dimitrov eliminated Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

–Field Level Media