Tiafoe out-duels Shelton in five-set US Open thriller

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NEW YORK – Frances Tiafoe rallied to beat Ben Shelton in an electrifying five-setter at the US Open, avenging a quarter-final loss to his fellow American at Flushing Meadows last year.
Tiafoe, with a brilliant return game and aggressive play at the net, beat Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to line up a fourth-round clash with either defending champion Novak Djokovic or Australian Alexei Popyrin.
“Losing last year to him, (I) struggled for a long time,” Tiafoe said. “Played really, really bad for a very, very long time.
“A lot of things have happened since then. I struggled with a lot of things, motivation-wise, things like that, taking the game for granted.
“So it was amazing to have that matchup.”
And, he added: “What an incredible match, incredible atmosphere. You know, for a day match, it was epic.”
Shelton pounded 23 aces, but Tiafoe mustered 21 break points and converted five. That included one break in each of the last two sets — enough to send him through.
“I thought since I’ve been on tour, today was probably the best that anyone has returned my serve that I have seen,” said 13th-seeded Shelton.
“There was one where I went big out wide, like 130 (mph), and he cracked it down the line clean, hit the baseline, and I was, like, ‘Oh, one of those days.'”
Tiafoe said his return game had improved since he started working with coach David Witt.
“That paid a lot of dividends,” he said. “I wished I served better throughout the match but I served really well at the end, and that’s kind of what counts. That’s probably the only thing I could critique.
“Ben’s an incredible player, man, and he comes up with the goods a lot. It was definitely a tough match.”