Tiafoe Cruises Into Semi-Finals

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

 

The #22 seed Timothy Tiafoe wanted to prove that his win over Rafael Nadal was no fluke. His confidence had to be sky high after taking the first set 6-4 from the man who came into the match with 22 Grand Slam titles. Tiafoe was quickly brought back to reality when Nadal took the second set 6-4 with the match looking like it would go to the maximum 5 sets. Then a funny thing happened over the next 2 sets. Tiafoe kept his poise and pressure while Nadal’s serve abandoned him. Tiafoe took the next 2 sets 6-4, 6-3 and advanced to the quarter-final yesterday spurred on by the New York City Crowd. 

 

Tiafoe faced the #9 seed Andrey Rublev from Russia. Coming into the match, Rublev had a record of 0-5 in quarterfinal matches. At the end of the day, his record dropped to 0-6 as Tiafoe took him out in straight sets. The first two sets went to a tie-breaker with Tiafoe coming out on top. In the third set, Tiafoe came away with the only break for the entire match when he broke Rublev in the 9^th game before closing it out 6-4.

 

 

 

 

Tiafoe’ s serve was sizzling. He averaged over 126 miles per hour on his aces. His forehand kept the Russian at bay deep in the court and his precise drop shots did not leave Rublev enough time to make a return.    

 

American men’s tennis has been an afterthought in the four major tournaments for far too long. How long? The 24-year-old Tiafoe, who was born to Nigerian parents and is from Hyattsville, Maryland became the first African American male to make it to the semi-final round since Arthur Ashe and the first American male to get this far since 2006 when Andy Roddick accomplished the feat. The last American man to win a major was Roddick who raised the U.S. Open trophy in 2003.

 

The euphoric and energetic player in Tiafoe was ecstatic after the match, flashing his wide beaming smile for the sold out crowd to see. Tiafoe ran to his box, hugging his team before returning to the court to soak in the ovation. 

 

“I love to show the world what l can do,” he began. “I just want to go out there and try to give the crowd what they want and that’s me getting the win.”

 

Tiafoe planned on watching the match between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz when it began a little after 9pm last night. The marathon match went a grueling five sets and did not end until close to 3am in the morning with Alcaraz coming out on top. It was very doubtful that Tiafoe was up till the end. Tiafoe and Alcaraz will meet in the semi-final round Friday.

 

Francis Tiafoe is not an overnight sensation. He won his only ATP title in 2018 in Delray Beach, Florida. In 2019, he went to the quarter finals at the Australian Open. He has made more than $6 million during his career. 

 

This U.S. Open has been Tiafoe’s coming out party. He’s invited all of New York to come with him. Based on the reaction, they won’t let him down.