Us Open: Tiafoe beats Nadal 3-1, it’s the first time in the quarter Slam

When she spent time playing with her twin at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, Frances Tiafoe dreamed that one day she would grow up and conquer America. Certainly Frances, son of the tennis club keeper who escaped from Sierra Leone, yesterday gave his family and New York the greatest joy. The quarter-finals of the US Open beating Rafa Nadal in four sets after an incredible match, played technically and tactically to perfection. He finishes 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 complete with a break to the 22 Slam champion in the general jubilation of Arthur Ashe Stadium. He explodes into a tears, son of tension and joy, Frances covers her face, too often considered a fool for her attitudes on the pitch.

The last American to beat a top 5 was James Blake in 2005, and the opponent was Rafa Nadal. And it is precisely the former US champion to collect the first statements of the boy followed by Ferreira: “I did nothing but grow, in my own way, I made my path and I reached this goal. I played an exceptional tennis this evening, in the end my legs were shaking but I held on. “

Number 1

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Now the race for number 1, a race that started with five and which has already lost Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev, sees the suitors thin again. At the moment he is still the 22 Slam champion, two only this year, to lead the live world ranking but Casper Ruud and Carlitos Alcaraz are there, pawing to get to the top, the final will be enough for them to overcome the Spanish southpaw. Tomorrow at 6 pm Matteo Berrettini will try to stop the Norwegian’s race, while Alcaraz will soon have to face Marin Cilic, the eternal Croatian who won the US Open in 2014.

The match

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Tiafoe takes the lead, with a break in the sixth game of the first set. Advantage maintained until the final 6-4. In the interval, 8 and a half minutes of medical time out in the locker room for Nadal who had his left wrist bandaged. Upon his return, Rafa reacts as a fighter, snatching the joke from the American at 5-4, equalizing the set count. but Frances’s evening is extraordinary, in the third set she breaks in the 7th game, she confirms it for 5-3 and closes 6-4 in the pit of 23 thousand in the stands. Rafa sprints ahead in the fourth set, climbs 3-1, but Tiafoe’s reaction is immediate and in a moment the situation is reversed. From 3-1 behind, Frances is 4-3 ahead and from there she never gives up. She exalts herself to the end, sends back every attempt of the Spaniard and closes her unforgettable night. Now there is Rublev who yesterday liquidated Cameron Norrie.