Frances Tiafoe tops Ben Shelton in five-set US Open rematch

Frances Tiafoe’s frustration boiled over. After splitting sets with compatriot Ben Shelton, and then breaking Shelton at 3-5 to remain in the third set, Tiafoe suddenly found himself trailing a tiebreaker 6-0. He couldn’t help but take his frustration out on the courtside box that holds the players’ towels.

It worked, apparently, as Tiafoe reeled off five straight points to make Shelton really think about the massive advantage he could actually squander.

And then, in the blink of an eye—if an eye can blink watching a 143 M.P.H. ace—all that recovery work Tiafoe did went for naught.

Or did it?

The commitment that Tiafoe showed in recovering from 0-6 didn’t evaporate when play resumed. With his bigger game and mammoth serve, Shelton can make Tiafoe look small. But Tiafoe’s fight is tough to question.

“This is going to be more about heart and will and belief than tennis,” John McEnroe said on the ESPN broadcast.

Tiafoe held steady, then broke Shelton for a 6-4 fourth-set win. Then, he would break Shelton for the fifth time in the match, in the fifth set, for a 3-1 lead—and an advantage he would not squander.—Ed McGrogan

Analysis of Tiafoe's four-plus hour, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win from Flushing Meadows:

PETER BODO: It was evident almost from the start of this much-anticipated third-rounder that Shelton had the power and athleticism to control the terms. He’s simply fighting a weight division higher than Tiafoe. But tennis execution explains why some players who seem physically overmatched still win.

Shelton’s serve is superior, bordering on unplayable. He hits a heavier ball than Tiafoe. He is also more creative and likely to change tactics. It’s easy to understand why at the outset Tiafoe trod carefully. He seemed passive and, as they say, somewhat “within himself.” But he was just building resolve like we’ve never seen before. And as Shelton struggled with unforced errors—58 in all—Tiafoe’s confidence and determination just kept building.

Tiafoe’s quickness, grit and counter-punching talents in this match were a revelation to someone more accustomed to watching him battle rivals who are cut from similar cloth (think Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul et al). Nor has Tiafoe often looked as focused, start-to-finish, as he did today. Time and again, in ways large (taking care of his serve) and small (outfoxing Shelton in long rallies), Tiafoe fought successful rear-guard actions. Credit to Tiafoe for a tremendous show of self-belief, tactical flexibility and solid nerves.

DAVID KANE: He sublet it for a year, but Frances Tiafoe reclaimed his house on Friday, avenging a 2023 quarterfinal defeat to Ben Shelton in five sets, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

When they met last year, Tiafoe was the star of the tournament but flagging in terms of actual results. By contrast, Shelton was surging in a way we haven’t seen from a young American perhaps since Andy Roddick. Then just 20 years old, he rode that momentum all the way to a semifinal showdown with Novak Djokovic.

It’ll be Tiafoe’s turn to likely face Djokovic after the American kickstarted his year at Wimbledon in a five-set defeat to Carlos Alcaraz. But even before that, Tiafoe was tired of, in his own words, “losing to clowns.” He built off that loss to Alcaraz to the point where by the time he and Shelton were facing off on Arthur Ashe Stadium, both men were close to peak of their respective powers.

That combination created the most memorable Ashe match of the first week, delivering a combined 107 winners in just over four hours on court, but Tiafoe’s cumulative experience took him over the finish line in five.

A semifinalist in 2022, Tiafoe will probably have a 24-time Grand Slam champion standing between him and the last eight. But now that the most box-office man in the game is on a roll, the field better watch out.

STEVE TIGNOR: An epic, American-style: Exuberant, athletic, imperfect, fiery, sporting. It’s just a shame that it had to happen in the third round.

Until the very end of the fourth set, it looked like Shelton’s match. He was the aggressor—63 winners to 44 for Tiafoe. He was the more animated, vocal and positive force on court. And he came up up with the biggest shot of the first three sets: After going up 6-0 in the third-set tiebreaker, and then squandering the first five of those set points, Shelton hammered down a 143-m.p.h. ace on the T to take a two set to one lead. Last year, faced with exactly the same situation, Tiafoe folded.

This time, he did the opposite. He keep the faith in his game, and slowly, gradually, found it in the fourth set. The shots that had been sailing wide and long now found their targets, as he worked himself into a groove at last.

The moment of truth for him came in the opening game of the fourth set. He had just lost that third-set tiebreaker, and now he was down 0-30 on his serve. Shelton was surging, and he followed a forehand forward. Somehow, Tiafoe, with his back pressed against the wall, hooked a forehand pass onto the sideline. Jim Courier pronounced himself “gobsmacked” by the shot, Tiafoe’s team was reenergized, Shelton was crestfallen, and Tiafoe’s spine was stiffened again. He broke serve to close the fourth, broke again early in the fifth, and then played a brilliant, brave, nerveless service game to hold for the match.

By match point, Tiafoe was in full flow, and he finished in style, with a first serve, a deep backhand approach, and the most finely measured of drop volleys. Tiafoe and Shelton rightfully slapped hands and hugged at net, as friends and teammates and countrymen should.

There was no reason for Tiafoe to look ahead to what might be coming next—Novak Djokovic—just yet.