American Frances Tiafoe surprised Rafael Nadal at hand the 22-time main champion his first grand slam defeat of the season within the fourth spherical of the US Open.
Nadal was searching for his third slam title of the yr after successful the Australian Open and French Open to take the lead within the general race however he was overpowered by Tiafoe in a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory.
No American man has gained a grand slam title since Andy Roddick at Flushing Meadows in 2003, by far their longest drought in tennis historical past.
Now Tiafoe, the 24-year-old son of immigrants from Sierra Leone who slept within the workplace of a tennis centre in Maryland as a toddler the place his father was the caretaker, is true within the combine in a match that has been blown huge open by defeats for first defending champion Daniil Medvedev and now Nadal.
The end result leaves 2014 champion Marin Cilic, who was as a result of play Carlos Alcaraz within the evening session on Monday, as the one former slam winner left within the draw.
Tiafoe mentioned of his win: “I don’t even know what to say right now. I can’t believe it. He’s one of the greatest of all time. I played some really good tennis. Something special happened today.”
Nadal went into the US Open brief on matches after struggling an belly tear that compelled him to withdraw from Wimbledon forward of the semi-finals.
He dropped units to Rinky Hijikata and Fabio Fognini within the first two rounds however regarded extra like his standard self in a straight-sets victory over Richard Gasquet on Saturday.
Tiafoe started the competition having not dropped a set and bidding to achieve the quarter-finals for the primary time in his third straight journey to the fourth spherical.
The American is a pure crowd-pleaser along with his flashy sport and vibrant character, and he took full benefit of a somewhat sluggish begin to the match from his opponent.
There have been a smattering of boos when Nadal lastly returned from an eight-and-a-half-minute off-court break on the finish of the primary set, throughout which he reportedly had his wrists taped.
The 22-time grand slam champion was nonetheless not at his finest however he stored his nostril in entrance on serve after which seized his alternative to stage the match when Tiafoe double-faulted.
If the group anticipated Nadal to tug clear within the third, although, Tiafoe didn’t observe the script, breaking by way of the Spaniard’s legendary powers of defence repeatedly along with his energy and racing to his seat after breaking for 4-3.
He served out the set with probably the greatest video games of the match, crunching back-to-back winners after which clinching it with an ace.
Both males left the court docket for prolonged breaks earlier than the fourth, which noticed Nadal carry out a leaping fist-pump in direction of his staff after preventing off a break level within the opening sport.
He moved right into a 3-1 lead, with Tiafoe receiving a warning for swearing after dropping serve whereas the roof closed on Arthur Ashe, however the second seed nonetheless didn’t look settled and again got here his opponent with a run of 5 video games in a row to clinch the most important win of his profession.
In the final eight Tiafoe will tackle ninth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk