Frances Tiafoe thrilled the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, beating Rafael Nadal in 4 sets and reaching the quarter-finals of the New York Slam.
Great performance that of Big Foe who reacts in a brutal way to the misstep near the finish line in the second set and which highlights all the difficulties of the four-time champion of the tournament, who renounces prematurely the dream Slam number 23 and who also sees the summit of the ranking.
Fate is now all in the hands of Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.Ā On the most important stage of all, against the player who had not yet lost even a match at the Grand Slam level this season. With a sometimes surreal match, managed tactically and technically in an extraordinary way.
“I can’t believe it”: all the excitement of Tiafoe after the success
After the match Frances said very moved and almost in tears: “I couldn’t be happier than that right now. Incredible, it’s just amazing what happened tonight. I can’t even believe it yet. Yes, I walked into the field perfectly aware of to have a chance, I also said that, but beating Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament is just incredible. I can’t believe it, really.”
For Tiafoe the most delicious chance of his career: in the quarter-finals the challenge with Andrey Rublev, who beat Cameron Norrie in three rather clear sets, in a completely theoretical line the one with Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
Opposite to the only US Open champion left on the board after Nadal’s misstep. For the Spaniard, on the hunt for the first Slam in his career and incredibly also for the top of the ranking together with Ruud, the not trivial challenge with Marin Cilic.
On the night the match between Jannik Sinner and Ilya Ivashka was also on the court: with a success, the South Tyrolean talent would guarantee Italy for the first time in the history of the US Open a double presence in the men’s quarter-finals.
Frances Tiafoe’s dream finally comes true. Under the lights of New York and the roar of the biggest pitch of all, the American plays the game of his life, yes, but he also puts an end to Rafa Nadal’s race towards the twenty-three Grand Slam and first place in the ranking. Tiafoe thus closes at 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4 and obviously reaches for the first time in his career the quarter-finals on the blue brick of Flushing Meadows.