Frances Tiafoe is on course to emulate his incredible US Open 2022 run with a four-set win against giant-killing Australian Alexei Popyrin in the fourth-round.
With the Aussie fresh off a victory against Novak Djokovic, Tiafoe rode the home crowd support to win 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 in three hours and eight minutes.
The American 20th seed will now meet ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final as he hopes to reach the semi-final, a career-high at a slam he also achieved at US Open 2022.
After enjoying the crowd support when he upset Djokovic, Popyrin wasn’t going to be afforded the same pleasure against fan favourite Tiafoe.
However it was the American on the back foot early in the match, being forced to fend off two break points in the fourth game of the first set.
Tiafoe managed to hold serve in that game and it remained on serve until he broke Popyrin in the ninth game, before serving out the set 6-4.
Popyrin looked in trouble early in the second set as he struggled on serve and faced a break point in the second game.
But the Australian secured his serve, broke Tiafoe in the next game and surged to a 5-2 lead in the set.
After Tiafoe held his serve to force Popyrin to serve the set out, the Aussie raced to 40-0 and three set points.
But he incredibly lost five consecutive points to surrender the advantage and put games back on serve.
The set ended up in a tiebreak and with the crowd behind him, Tiafoe claimed it 7-3 as Popyrin faltered.
Just as it looked like Tiafoe might run away with the match in straight sets, Popyrin found some reserves to keep the contest going.
Tiafoe went through a significant flat period in the third set with Popyrin breaking twice and serving it out 6-2 to keep himself alive.
But the American drew on the crowd reserves to regain his momentum and close out the match 6-3.
Tiafoe made the last four of the 2022 Flushing Meadows edition but was stopped in five sets by eventual tournament winner Carlos Alcaraz.
