- Frances Tiafoe has advanced to the last eight of the US Open for the third time
Frances Tiafoe is at home in New York.
He may hail from Maryland but it’s at the US Open where his best Slam finish has come, and there is something visceral about the way the Arthur Ashe crowd reacts to him – perhaps even compared to other Americans.
That bond was on full display on Sunday night, as the world No. 20 took down Novak Djokovic-slayer Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 in the fourth round.
It wasn’t always easy against the 6-foot-5 Popyrin and his towering serve (he fired 20 aces in the match), but Tiafoe always seemed the more comfortable of the two in longer rallies and kept his head in some of the match’s most high-intensity moments.
One of the highlights of the night was his second-set tiebreak win, a series which showed both his impressive composure and this crowd’s adulation for him.
The stadium reached truly deafening levels after a cross-court forehand winner that gave him a 3-0 lead and Tiafoe – never afraid to play to the crowd in pivotal moments – buoyed off of that energy to give himself an ultimately unassailable two set edge.
‘I always dreamt about playing on this court,’ he said on the court afterwards. ‘…You guys are unbelievable fans and it makes it so fun out here.’
The 2022 US Open semifinalist struggled to return early on as Popyrin fired six aces in his first three service games.
He also found himself 15-40 down up 2-1, but escaped this early break opportunity for Popyrin and showed his own serving chops with two aces in the subsequent deuce.
And Popyrin, who is coming off of winning the Canadian Open in Montreal last month, faded towards the end of the first set, as Tiafoe earned a crucial break in the ninth game before serving out the set.
The second set initially seemed destined to be Popyrin’s.
He survived a break point within a five-deuce marathon to go up 2-1 before earning his first break of the match the following game – after a Tiafoe was forced to chase a deft drop shot and set up his opponent for an easy volley at the net.
But Tiafoe, who at one point trailed 5-2 in the second set, was not willing to simply pack it up and prepare for a third period of play.
Popyrin held a triple-set point at 5-3 but incredibly couldn’t close the door as Tiafoe continued to bother him on longer points.
He’d soon double fault to hand a vital break back to Tiafoe, and there were no more serving wobbles for the remainder of the set as things went to a tiebreak, where Tiafoe thrived off of the momentum he’d built with his recent break.
The third set also began with an early break for Popyrin, who raced out to a 3-1 advantage.
The set felt like a bit of a hangover from the previous in which Tiafoe – and the crowd – expended so much energy fighting back. ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’ chants started trickling out of the upper portions of the stadium.
And while Tiafoe did well to save three consecutive break points to cut Popryin’s advantage to 3-2, he ran out of juice and committed nine unforced errors as the Australian quickly got back into the match.
The fourth set saw a reinvigorated Tiafoe, as he fought back from a 0-30 hole at 1-1 to hold serve, before earning a crucial break six games in for a 4-2 lead.
Popyrin at that point was in a massive hole and his fate was confirmed soon after when Tiafoe served out the match after initially blowing a match point.
He – and this home crowd – will not exit this tournament quietly.