Frances Tiafoe rose as the winner in a nail-biting neck-to-neck match against Alexei Popyrin, who last week defeated Novak Djokovic, at the US Open. The American won 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 despite the Australian dominating the match.
Popyrin showed why he is called the ‘giant slayer’ when he powered ahead in the second set 5-2 40-0, but lost points with a double fault. Tiafoe used this to his advantage and turned the match around with his volley of powerful shots. They leveled on the set score. Tiafoe then took the lead with his crosscourt forehand pass. He drew energy from his fans and supporters who roared him on.
Tiafoe, 26, pushed Popyrin back and is set to face Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinal.
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Frances Tiafoe Makes History
The World No.10 is now in the elite club, amongst Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick, becoming the fourth American male tennis player to appear in three US Open quarterfinals since 2000 – only other men to achieve this feat. in a century.
In an after match interview, Tiafoe applauded Popyrin for the intense game. He said “I was like, I’m pretty sweaty, I’m sweating through my shoes, I’m gonna go win this in four.” Tiafoe shared that it was his dream to play on this court seeing the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus) win the title, and Roger Federer win it like a million times. He believes it brings out the best in him. Tiafoe, who hasn’t won any singles Grand Slam titles, hopes to win the US Open 2024.
