American Frances Tiafoe upsets Rafael Nadal in 4th round of US Open
American Frances Tiafoe has confirmed she will compete in the fourth round of the US Open, after upsetting world No. 5 Rafael Nadal in her third-round match.
Tiafoe came from a set down to take a 2-1 lead, but rallied back to level in match point at 3-all, but fell 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-2. Nadal’s win also moved him to 2-0 over the American in the tournament.
In the third game, Nadal was serving a solid ace, but Tiafoe pulled off some impressive serve-volley errors and served out after losing the first four games.
Tiafoe said yesterday: “I tried some different things. I think today, I wasn’t able to break serve it was a tough one. I’m still not satisfied with my level. I want to get a little better.“
“At one point there was a bit of a back and forth and I thought I hit it, but I don’t know if I hit it a couple of times but I don’t know,” she added. “I wasn’t able to make it out of trouble and after that I just tried to hang in there, just hang in there, take as much time as I can to get my game in order and just to get me going and trying to get my serve in order and hitting it to the lines so I can take time out to put my feet on the ground and get my serve under control.”
With both players having already used up 45 minutes of their allotted match time, the deciding contest will be played tomorrow (today).
Rafael Nadal will now play Russian Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
“Thank you for a magnificent performance, Frances”, stated Nadal, after winning 5-1, 7-6(8), 6-3 in their final match of the day.
“I am very pleased for Frances and I am very happy for her. She just played a great match. She’s always a great player. She won a match today that I have never seen before.”
As expected, the match between No. 1 John Isner and No. 3 James Blake in the third round has been cancelled.
