'He has a perfect game' - Mats Wilander, Alex Corretja laud Frances Tiafoe after Rafael Nadal win at US Open

Mats Wilander and Alex Corretja were both in awe of an “unbelievable” performance from Frances Tiafoe as he beat Rafael Nadal to reach the US Open quarter-finals. Tiafoe, the 22nd seed in New York, hit 49 winners in a hugely impressive victory over 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal. Ad It was Tiafoe’s first win over Nadal in three attempts and he is into his first major quarter-final, where he will play ninth seed Andrey Rublev.

US Open'I need to fix things' — Nadal hints at break after shock Tiafoe lossAN HOUR AGO “Unbelievably smart first of all,” said Eurosport expert Wilander on Tiafoe. “He is so physical and strong and he serves better than ever before so he gets a lot of free points. The backhand, I thought he wasn’t going to hit as hard as he needed to, and he did.

He stepped into it, took it early, went cross court hard, down the line, he came to the net as well, so the variety of tactics was brilliant. “He is so quick on the court and then he was committed to his tactics from the first point to the last point. He has a perfect game.

His forehand is such a big weapon, he moves unbelievably well, and he deserved to win today, for sure he was the better player. Tiafoe wins thriller to reach US Open quarter-finals Nadal hints at time away from tennis after loss “He put a lot of stress into Nadal’s game and he was missing a little more than we are used to, because he hasn’t played hardly any matches since Wimbledon. It’s easy to play the right way but to believe and do it until the very end is extraordinary.” Tiafoe had lost both previous meetings with Nadal in straight sets but had said beforehand he believed he could pull off an upset.