Tiafoe Lights Up Ashe, Topples Popyrin to Reach Third Consecutive US Open Quarterfinal

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday September 1, 2024

New York—Back in the 1970’s there was a baseball player by the name of Reginald Martinez Jackson that brought New York City to life around this time of year – he went by the name Mr. October because that is when baseball’s world series was played.

This year at the US Open, Frances Tiafoe hopes to be Mr. September.

Tiafoe took the next step in his bid to make a career-best US Open performance on Sunday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, defeating Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3, to reach his third consecutive quarterfinal in Flushing Meadows.

“I always dreamt about playing on this court [since I was] a kid,” an emotional Tiafoe told Chris Eubanks in his post-match interview. “I used to hit against the wall and wanted to compete on this court.

“Seeing the Williams sisters win titles here, seeing Roger win here a million times, I was like ‘I just want to play on this court’. It’s so iconic, obviously named after Arthur Ashe, so I wanted to be a part of that. I think it brings out the best of me.”

It’s hard to argue with him. Tiafoe has now won 13 of his last 15 at the US Open, and was coming off an emphatic five-set win over Ben Shelton on Friday in Ashe.

Tiafoe will face Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Andrey Rublev in five sets on Sunday afternoon, for a spot in the semifinals. The 33-year-old Bulgarian leads the pair’s head-to-head 3-1, but they have split their last two meetings, which were their only two meetings at the majors.

“Obviously he’s so talented. He’s been one of the most talented players for a very, very long time,” Tiafoe said. “He’s playing great in the later stages of his career and he’s starting to find great form again. So it’s going to be really, really tough. He can hit all the shots. I’m going to make him fight for it and earn it and I’m sure he is, too. I hope you guys are with me there as well.”

The 26-year-old rode the frenzy of support he received from a packed Sunday night crowd and capitalized in the clutch to take a two sets to love lead over the man who had taken out four-time champion Novak Djokovic in third-round action two nights ago.

After taking the opening set, Tiafoe rallied from triple set point down with Popyrin serving at 5-3 in the second, eventually breaking to get back on serve. He eventually won the set with a perfectly played tiebreak, as ticket holders and fans outside watching the big screens cheered at the top of their lungs.

Popyrin, who produced 55 winners with his breathtaking power, hit back to take the third set on the strength of two breaks, but it was the 20th-seeded American who scored the only break in the fourth set. Tiafoe was made to work for it as Popyrin forced a break point while Tiafoe served for the match in the waning moments of set four, but the American held his ground and closed out the match three points later.

Popyrin will rue the forehand he missed on his break point, he had room to slide a passing shot past Tiafoe but netted a forehand. Tiafoe fired a fantastic forehand winner to close out the match two points later as the crowd erupted.

With his win Tiafoe joins former US Open champions Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras as the only American men to contest three or more US Open quarterfinals since 2000.

Tiafoe saved six of nine break points and finished with 14 aces, 44 winners and 20 unforced errors.