Frances Tiafoe turned his momentum around after dropping the first two sets against Alex Michelsen, with the 11th seed scrambling to a 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (10-6) Tuesday win into his third semi-final at the US Open.
After Tiafoe converted on his second match point, the winner rushed to the net for a long hug with his tearful opponent who cried on Tiafoe’s shoulders after missing the biggest chance of his young career.
“Everyone in the crowd was asleep during the first couple of hours – I was asleep with y’all,” Tiafoe said. “But after that, the energy was incredible.
“There were two Americans but the crowd was for me and I appreciate that.”
Tiafoe ended with 10 aces against 21 for Michelsen. The pair combined to break 16 times from 40 chances in nearly five hours of battle.
Michelsen who had not lost a set at this edition, served for a straight-set win in the third set but was overcome by nerves, losing his way with two double-faults to start and eventually dropping the set as Tiafoe began to make an impression.at 5-all
Two games later, the previous sure thing went into a fourth set after Michelsen dropped serve again in the 12th game, 5-7.
Tiafoe broke twice in the fourth as his game improved, squaring the struggle at two sets each to force a deciding fifth.
Tiafoe, trailing 4-5, stood two points from defeat but delivered thee aces to get out of jail, winning a match tiebreaker to reach the final four.
Tiafoe leads all players with 26 hard-court wins this season and is 3-0 versus Michelsen.
