Frances Tiafoe upsets No. 2 Rafael Nadal to reach quarter-finals at U.S. Open
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 quarter-final 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.
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.
"Well done for him," Nadal said. "He was better than me."
Have a moment Frances Tiafoe!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USOpen</a> <a href="https://t.co/egoIVDoRWh">pic.twitter.com/egoIVDoRWh</a>
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 months between leaving the All England Club and arriving in New York while recovering from
