NEW YORK — There will be at least one American man in the U.S. Open quarterfinals because two will face each other in the fourth round. Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton each made it to the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time with victories on Friday and will meet Sunday.
Maryland’s Frances Tiafoe could give the U.S. another quarterfinalist after he advanced to the fourth round for the fourth consecutive year.
The 10th-seeded Tiafoe was a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6) winner against No. 22 Adrian Mannarino of France. Tiafoe reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the U.S. Open a year ago — beating Rafael Nadal before losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz — and is the first man from the United States to get to the fourth round in New York for four consecutive years since Andre Agassi in 2002-05.
Tiafoe was not exactly in fine form ahead of his return. He lost three of four matches on hard courts leading into this U.S. Open.
Not that he cares about that now.
“The summer’s irrelevant,” Tiafoe said. “It’s all about this tournament, honestly.”
Paul eliminated No. 21 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, and Shelton got past Aslan Karatsev of Russia. Tiafoe will play Rinky Hijikata of Australia next.
Looking to join them and the other Americans: No. 9 Taylor Fritz, who was scheduled to meet Czech qualifier Jakub Mensik at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Friday night, and wild-card entry Michael Mmoh, who plays Saturday.
“There is very healthy competition amongst all of us,” Paul said about the U.S. contingent. “I mean, in no way would I say jealousy between us. We push each other with results or in practice.”
