American Frances Tiafoe stuns Rafael Nadal to make US Open quarterfinals

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 US Open's fourth round on Monday.

Tiafoe buried his head in his hands and cried on the court after he shook hands with Nadal. He sat on the bench and buried his head in a towel as Nadal walked off and waved to the crowd.

The 24-year-old Tiafoe is the youngest American man to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2006. It's the second major quarterfinal of his career.

«I don't even know what to say right now. I'm beyond happy. I can't believe it,'' said Tiafoe, who faces No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev next. „He's one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today, but I don't even know what happened.''

Here's what happened: Tiafoe served better than No. 2 seed Nadal. More surprisingly, he returned better, too. And he kept his cool, remained in the moment and never let the stakes or the opponent get to him.

Nadal had won both of their previous matches, and every set they played, too. He was 31-2 in majors against Americans entering Monday's match and had won 27 straight since losing to James Blake in 2005.

“Well done for him,'' Nadal said. „He was better than me.''

This surprise came a day after one of Tiafoe's pals, Nick Kyrgios, eliminated No. 1 seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev.

Nadal won the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. Then he made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in July before withdrawing from that tournament because of a torn abdominal muscle; that does not go into the books as a loss, because he pulled out before the match.

The 36-year-old from Spain competed only once in the 1 1/2