American men’s tennis hasn't had much to brag about in a long, long time.
Nice job, Frances!
NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe ended Rafael Nadal’s 22-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments by beating the 22-time major champion 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the U.S. Open’s fourth round on Monday.
Tiafoe is a 24-year-old from Maryland who is seeded 22nd at Flushing Meadows and reached the second major quarterfinal of his career.
He is the youngest American man to get that far at the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2006, but this was not a case of a one-sided crowd backing one of its own. Nadal is about as popular as it gets in tennis and heard plenty of support in Arthur Ashe Stadium as the volume raised after the retractable roof was shut in the fourth set.
With the 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win, the biggest victory in his career so far, Tiafoe became the third American to beat Nadal at a Grand Slam after Andy Roddick in 2004 and James Blake in 2005. He also became the youngest from his country to enter the quarterfinals at the US Open since Roddick 18 years back.
U.S. Open: Rafael Nadal falls to Frances Tiafoe in fourth round - Portland Press Herald