Tiafoe gets revenge on Shelton in U.S. Open third round

A U.S. Open battle between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton was hyped up to the max, at least among American tennis circles.

It certainly lived up to it.

Afternoon session ticket holders in Arthur Ashe Stadium lucked into a memorable all-American showdown that should–by anyone’s scheduling metrics–have been a night match. In the end, Tiafoe prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 after four hours and three minutes, delaying the night session by almost an hour and a half. For Tiafoe, it avenged a quarterfinal loss to Shelton at last year’s U.S. Open–which was also in Arthur Ashe Stadium, and that one in primetime.

For much of the way it looked like Shelton would get the best of his fellow American and good friend yet again, a result that would have given him a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head series. The No. 13 seed took the first and the third sets, so he was playing from ahead almost the entire time. After losing the fourth, Shelton saw an opening to regain an advantage when it was 1-1, 15-40 on Tiafoe’s serve. Tiafoe, however, managed to dig out of the hole and held.

Break-point conversions proved to be the difference in the fifth. Those were the only opportunities Shelton would get, and Tiafoe capitalized on his first chance in the very next game. The 20th seed held with relative ease rest of the way, eventually converting his second match point at 5-3, 40-30 with a forehand winner

“First off, I gotta say, Ben’s an incredible player,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “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. He has great energy out here. 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.”

Even though he came up short, Shelton agreed it was a fun one.

“It didn’t feel like a third-round match,” the 21-year-old commented. “(It) felt like one of those that you play late in the two weeks. (It) should have been a night match, but it is what it is.

“But yeah, a great atmosphere. It was just one of those back-and-forth, back-and-forth (matches), and I wasn’t able to capitalize on the chances I had in the end. And when he had them today, he really came through in the big moments.”

The match itself was a big moment for American tennis. It just would have been bigger at night–and in a round later than the third.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.