New York (AFP) – Frances Tiafoe rallied to beat Ben Shelton in an electrifying five-setter on Friday at the US Open, avenging a quarter-final loss to his fellow American at Flushing Meadows last year. Tiafoe, with a brilliant return game and aggressive play at the net, beat Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to line up a fourth-round clash with either defending champion Novak Djokovic or Australian Alexei Popyrin.
“Losing last year to him, (I) struggled for a long time,” Tiafoe said. “Played really, really bad for a very, very long time. A lot of things have happened since then. I struggled with a lot of things, motivation-wise, things like that, taking the game for granted. So it was amazing to have that matchup.” And, he added: “What an incredible match, incredible atmosphere. You know, for a day match, it was epic.”
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Shelton pounded 23 aces, but Tiafoe mustered 21 break points and converted five. That included one break in each of the last two sets — enough to send him through. “I thought since I’ve been on tour, today was probably the best that anyone has returned my serve that I have seen,” said 13th-seeded Shelton. “There was one where I went big out wide, like 130 (mph), and he cracked it down the line clean, hit the baseline, and I was, like, ‘Oh, one of those days.'”
Tiafoe said his return game had improved since he started working with coach David Witt. “That paid a lot of dividends,” he said. “I wished I served better throughout the match but I served really well at the end, and that’s kind of what counts. That’s probably the only thing I could critique. Ben’s an incredible player, man, and he comes up with the goods a lot. It was definitely a tough match.”
When Tiafoe closed it out after an intense four hours and three minutes, he spread his arms to the roaring Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd before meeting his good friend Shelton for a lengthy hug. Shelton had gained the advantage with a dramatic third-set tiebreak victory, taking a 6-0 lead only for Tiafoe to win five straight points before Shelton closed out the set with a 143 mph ace. “I really hope you guys enjoyed the show,” said Tiafoe, who beat Rafael Nadal on the way to the semi-finals two years ago in what is still his best Grand Slam performance. After a slowish start to the season, he has won 12 of his past 16 matches and has won five of his past six against top-20 players. The only exception was his loss to world number one Jannik Sinner in the final at Cincinnati this month.
– ‘Don’t lay down’ – Tiafoe said that when he fell two sets to one down against Shelton last year, “I fell away quickly, broken twice, pretty unacceptable the way I lost in the end.” He was determined not to let that happen again. “It’s been something I have been doing much better,” he said. “I just don’t lay down. I want to win or lose matches knowing the guy beat me, I didn’t beat myself.”
Despite his disappointment, Shelton had no hesitation in enthusiastically congratulating Tiafoe at the net. “It didn’t feel right to just go up with a negative look on my face, shake his hand and walk off the court, because he played some great ball today,” Shelton said. “I told him, you know, keep serving like that, keep returning like that, and see where this thing goes.”
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