In his finest moment at Arthur Ashe Stadium, there weren’t a lot of folks still around for the theatrical Frances Tiafoe as Friday night flashed into Saturday morning at the U.S. Open.
Approximately 650 fans had stuck it out until 2:14 a.m., and they were extremely rowdy, if not plentiful. And Tiafoe sounded like he wanted to shake the hand of each one.
“You guys are the reason I got it done tonight,’’ Tiafoe told the crowd on the court. “It was definitely tricky. “You guys stuck with me all the way through. You all did it.”
Tiafoe, a Maryland product, put on an awesome fifth-set clinic to finish off the fifth-seeded Russian, Andrey Rublev, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-1.
The five-set marathon win put the 23-year-old into the fourth round for the second straight year at the Open. On Sunday, he will face 12th-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at Ashe Stadium. Tiafoe can expect the full crowd this time against the 21-year-old.
Tiafoe, who rifled 69 winners, has yet to advance to an Open quarterfinal, and USTA officials are hoping to just get one American men’s player into the second week.
Tiafoe and Auger-Aliassime haven’t faced off since the juniors. The Canadian advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals this June, before losing to eventual finalist Matteo Berrettini.
“I’ve lost a lot of five-setters,’’ Tiafoe said after his upset of Rublev. “My five-set record isn’t great. [But] I can’t not bring it,” I’ve lost a lot of tough matches on this court. … I wasn’t going to leave this court without a win tonight.”
The Tiafoe-Rublev marathon became the sixth-latest finish to a match in Open history. Now, Tiafoe has to do it all over again after the nearly four-hour bout. When there were still plenty of patrons on hand (it was the second night match after the Naomi Osaka’s three-set debacle), they carried him through after he lost the first set.
Chants of “Let’s go, Frances!” resonated as the third set headed into a tiebreak. Tiafoe saved a set point and squeaked it out, 8-6, as Rublev committed five double faults in that set alone.
Rublev, 23, had made the Open quarterfinals twice and was runner-up at the Cincinnati warm-ups last month.
Tiafoe’s career has had his starts, stops and flashes of greatness, but he’s still ranked just 50th. On and off, he has carried the American men’s tennis mantle on his shoulders. Tiafoe posted a brilliant upset over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round at this year’s Wimbledon, but couldn’t weave a run, losing in the third round.
“I love these matches,’’ Tiafoe said after the win over Rublev. “This is why you work, why you put the time in, to play the best guys in the world. These are the matches I get up for. These are the matches I’m not worried about playing great tennis. I just want these guys. I want to put it on my résumé. I came out today saying, ‘I’m going to beat him.’ I don’t fear any of these guys.”