Frances Tiafoe equaled milestone achieved 50 years ago by Arthur Ashe himself

Sixteen years ago an American tennis player had reached the semifinals of the US Open and the last one to do so was Andy Roddick; but there is no evil that lasts 100 years and Frances Tiafoe broke the streak to reach the round of the best four at Flushing Meadows, where he maintains an unbeatable pace in his best historical performance in a Grand Slam.

Frances Tiafoe's milestones

As if that were not enough, Tiafoe's milestone has an even greater significance when he achieved it in front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, since 1972, 50 years ago, it was Arthur Ashe who was the last black American tennis player to reach a US Open semifinal.

The 24-year-old tennis player, born in Hyattsville, Maryland, achieved what Roddick did for the last time, who reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open in 2006, when he later lost the final to Roger Federer. That was the last time a local tennis player had reached the US Open semifinals, because although John Isner and Sam Querrey had done it at Wimbledon, in New York there was no one, until Tiafoe arrived.

Frances Tiafoe has played five matches at the US Open and has only lost one set, to Rafael Nadal, whom he defeated in a surprising way in the round of 16 on Monday, and so he met the Russian Andrey Rublev in search of a place in the semifinals, and defeated him by 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0) and 6-4 to take another important step in the American tournament.

U.S. men's tennis is back

The American fans, avid for a tennis idol, gave their support to Tiafoe from the beginning and that drove the player, number 22 in the seeding, who after 2:36 hours finished with the ninth favorite, who took his rival to the maximum in the first two sets, but lost in the decisive moments, in the tie break. In the sudden death of the second set he did not get his hands in and was overwhelmed.

In the third set, no less complicated, but he did not need to reach the tie-break. Tiafoe had 4 break opportunities in the match and he could only make one, the one in the third set that allowed him to take the advantage and win the match. Rublev also had 4, but missed all of them. In search of his pass to the final, the American is waiting for his opponent, who will be the winner of the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

Tiafoe has already broken a streak of 16 years without an American tennis player reaching the semifinals of the US Open, and now he will try to break the 19 years without a title for a local player at Flushing Meadows, after Andy Roddick himself was crowned in 2003. Tiafoe has two matches to go, and with the support of the crowd and the motivation, this could be his chance.

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