US Open semi-finalist Tiafoe relishing role model status

Frances Tiafoe says he hopes to inspire a new generation of Black tennis players after moving to within two wins of becoming the first African-American man in 54 years to win the US Open.

The 24-year-old has lit up this year's championships after a giant-killing run that saw him eliminate Rafael Nadal before Wednesday's quarter-final demolition of Russian ninth seed Andrey Rublev.

Tiafoe's assured 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/0), 6-4 victory over Rublev has left the 22nd seed on course to become the first Black male player to win the Open since Arthur Ashe in 1968.

Tiafoe wants his performances in New York to leave a lasting mark on US tennis.

"Every time I win, I just want to inspire a bunch of people to just know that anything is possible," Tiafoe said.

"At the end of the day I love that because of Frances Tiafoe there is a lot of people of colour playing tennis.

"That's obviously a goal for me. That's why I'm out here trying pretty hard."

Tiafoe was introduced to tennis at an early age, after his father, who moved to the US to escape civil war in Sierra Leone in the early 1990s, took a job as a live-in caretaker at a tennis training facility in Maryland.

"I was playing tennis hours and hours around the game, soaking up the game, watching the game," Tiafoe said.

"It was my life. The only thing I really watched growing up was Tennis Channel. I mean, you end up just falling in love with it."

Prior to Wednesday, Tiafoe's best result at a Grand Slam was a quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open in 2019.

'Cinderella story'

But after beating Nadal on Monday and taking care of Rublev on Wednesday, Tiafoe has American fans daring to dream he can go all the way to clinch a maiden Slam.

"I just love playing in front of packed people," Tiafoe