Francis Tiafoe punched his ticket to a third career semifinal at the US Open with a five-set thriller against fellow American Alex Michelsen on Tuesday night (5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6).
Tiafoe came into the match 2-17 in his career at grand slams (0-4 at the US Open) when trailing 0-2 in sets, but dug deep for the most impressive comeback of his career to earn a spot in the semifinal for the third time in five years in New York. Tiafoe will now face the winner of No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz and No. 8 seed Ben Shelton in the semifinals, where he will try to break through to his first ever grand slam final.
Michelsen, meanwhile, came tantalizingly close to the first grand slam semifinal of his career, but fell to 0-3 lifetime in five-set matches. Still, the young American produced his best grand slam performance of his career and proved he’s another young American threat in the men’s game.
The match began with Michelsen jumping out to an early lead as Tiafoe’s serve let him down early and Michelsen pounced on him with a break in the third game and seemed like he might never look back. He took the first set 7-5 and the second set featured more of the same from Michelsen, who was much sharper on his serve and was able to break Tiafoe twice to take the second set comfortably 6-3.
Michelsen, who was the only man to enter the quarterfinals having not dropped a set, seemed well on his way to another straight set win after an early break in the third set put him on the front foot again.
Tiafoe seemed flat throughout the first half of the match — producing an awful first serve percentage below 40% in the first three sets — and struggled to create the spark he needed to flip the momentum onto his side. He had an opportunity midway through the third set to get back on serve and put Michelsen under pressure, getting triple break point with Michelsen up a break and closing in on the semis at 4-3, but Michelsen ripped off five straight points to push it to 5-3.
However, Tiafoe finally got the break he needed in the 10th game with Michelsen trying to serve out the match and let out a big yell to fire himself and the crowd up to push things to a fourth set. Michelsen’s serve, which was dominant early, started to break down with the finish line in sight, and the tension of the moment seemed to be impacting the 22-year-old. Tiafoe was able to capitalize on and run off three straight games to take the third set 7-5, ratcheting up the pressure on his young opponent.
The fourth set saw Michelsen’s struggles continue, as Tiafoe got his serve back on track and ripped off the first three games to seize control and ultimately cruised to a 6-3 win to send the match to a decisive fifth set. As soon as it seemed like Tiafoe might roll, Michelsen came roaring out of the gates in the final set. The 22-year-old served to start the set and then broke Tiafoe at love to grab an early advantage, consolidating that break to go up 3-0.
Tiafoe finally got on the board in the fourth game and the pendulum swung once again towards the veteran, as he got back on serve by breaking Michelsen in the fifth game. From there the tension ratcheted up as both men managed to hold serve in the next seven games to send the match to a 10-point tiebreak for a spot in the semifinals.
Tiafoe was the first to draw blood in the tiebreak, grabbing the early mini-break to go up 4-2 as they went to the chairs for the first changeover. The No. 11 seed continued to apply pressure to Michelsen with big serves and was able to push his advantage to 7-4, demanding something spectacular from the 22-year-old to avoid a crushing five-set defeat.
Michelsen wasn’t able to produce a final twist and turn in the marathon match, and Tiafoe was able to hit a forehand winner up the line to win 10-6 and complete the biggest comeback of his career.
After the match, Tiafoe and Michelsen embraced at the net and the young American couldn’t hold back his tears as Tiafoe embraced him and offered some words of encouragement.
