Tiafoe Reaches US Open Semis vs Shelton

Frances Tiafoe just ripped a US Open quarterfinal out of the fire. Trailing two sets and staring at a match serving from Alex Michelsen, the 11th seed won 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6) in 4 hours and 38 minutes Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, reaching the semis for a third time, per Reuters and BBC Sport.

Friday is now Tiafoe vs Ben Shelton in an all-American semis. One of them walks into Sunday's final, and the United States is guaranteed a men's singles finalist for the first time since Andy Roddick won this title in 2003.

Match point saved, then the comeback stuck

Michelsen had the afternoon. He piled up 21 aces, broke early in the third, and served for the match at 5-4. Then the nerves hit: two double faults, Tiafoe's break back to 5-5, and another break on set point that flipped the whole building. Tiafoe grabbed the first three games of the fourth and dragged Michelsen into a nerve-shredding fifth that ended in a 10-6 match tiebreak after both men traded breaks and swings of momentum.

The scoreboard hug mattered as much as the scoreline. Tiafoe cut his celebration short to embrace a weeping Michelsen at the net. Michelsen said nobody else could have made him cry in that moment. Tiafoe said he understood the sting after his own five-set exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, and called Michelsen "a hell of a player" once the rhythm finally returned.

Shelton Friday, American final locked

Shelton already took care of Carlos Alcaraz in the latest-finishing match in US Open history, a result covered when Shelton stunned Alcaraz. That sets Friday's all-American semis and ends any Alcaraz rematch talk for this fortnight. Home fans get two American lefties with big serves and louder nights still ahead.

For American fans, Tuesday was survival tennis with a soul. Michelsen earned every bit of respect on his deepest major run. Tiafoe found rhythm late, trusted the Ashe noise, and refused to let a two-set hole become a quarterfinal exit. Fantasy and betting boards should treat Friday as a coin-flip American derby with a Slam final on the other side. Tiafoe earned the rematch the hard way. Shelton brings the heat. New York gets both.

Tiafoe entered the match 2-17 in Slam matches when trailing 0-2 in sets, and 0-4 in that spot at the US Open, per CBS Sports reporting around the match. Digging out of that hole against a first-time quarterfinalist who had not dropped a set all tournament is why the Ashe crowd stayed loud into the fifth. Michelsen still had a 3-0 lead in the final set before Tiafoe clawed back on serve and forced the 10-point tiebreak. An ace at 135 mph helped finish it. That is the version of Big Foe New York keeps waiting on every August.