Both players had previously advanced to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, and in a rematch of their quarterfinal match from the previous year, which the younger Shelton had won in four sets, it was the explosive Tiafoe who emerged victorious after a four-hour struggle in New York as per Reuters.
Although the two players are close friends off the court, they put their friendships aside when Shelton promised a “war,” and the match lived up to the hype, electrifying the audience on multiple occasions and throughout rallies as it progressed.
Shelton, who entered the match with a 2-0 head-to-head record, fired 23 aces and 63 winners, but Tiafoe finally got his revenge and will play either Alexei Popyrin or the reigning champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
“Ben’s an incredible player man, he really is. He goes for all kinds of shots, he’s got no care in the world, it’s really annoying. He’s got a great serve and he has great energy out here,” Tiafoe said.
“He can come up with great shots, so can I. We both move really well, so it’s just highlight after highlight. I really hope you guys enjoyed the show, four hours of this battle.”
The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium was largely silent during the opening set as the two players went through the motions after Coco Gauff had fired it up with a gutsy comeback victory.
However, they came to life right away during an exciting rally in which the net cord forced both players to race to the net, and Shelton ultimately won the point when play was stopped by the referee after Tiafoe touched the net to give up a 4-1 advantage.
Shelton kept the crowd entertained with his skills; he once launched himself gracefully into the air at the net for a beautiful backhand smash and then followed up to blast a cross-court forehand winner that caused everyone to gasp in unison.
But in the second set, Tiafoe managed to re-enter the contest. Shelton managed to hold serve in two consecutive service games despite being down 0-40, but Tiafoe eventually converted a break point at 5-5, winning the second set.
When Tiafoe made mistakes and threw over a towel bin in annoyance during the third set tiebreak, Shelton swept ahead 6-0. There wasn’t much separating the two players.
Shelton was on the verge of collapse as Tiafoe battled back to 6-5, but the nonchalant American sealed a 2-1 lead with the quickest serve of the tournament on his seventh set point.
Even though Tiafoe was leading 5-4, Shelton had to save set points before an unintentional mistake forced a deciding. They were tied in the fourth as well.
In the fifth set, Shelton gave up first, trying too hard to hit huge strokes and making mistakes that allowed Tiafoe to break and take a 4-1 lead.
Without turning around, Tiafoe scored his second match point by slyly approaching the net and executing a deft volley into the open court. He then celebrated his first victory against his countryman by giving him a quick hug at the net.
Tiafoe is a member of an American group that is keen to end the 21-year men’s major drought and Taylor Fritz gave home aspirations even more momentum when he easily defeated Argentine Francisco Comesana to set up a match with either Casper Ruud or Shang Juncheng in the following round.
Being the first American man to advance to the fourth round of all Grand Slam tournaments in a single year since Andre Agassi in 2003, the 12th seed never gave up and sent over 33 winners.