Frances Tiafoe is flying high at the US Open, with the American star now into the quarter-finals of his home Grand Slam.
Tiafoe and Alexei Popyrin are close friends, but the former put his friendship with the latter aside in the fourth round.
The Australian was in fine form going into the US Open, with Popyrin breaking a 21-year Australian record after winning the Montreal Open.
That undoubtedly gave him great confidence to go and beat defending champion Novak Djokovic in the US Open third round.
But he came up short against Tiafoe at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with the American winning 6-4, 7-6(7-3), 2-6, 6-3.
Frances Tiafoe breaks American record at the US Open
20th seed Tiafoe now faces ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals, in what is certain to be another tricky test in Queens.
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But the US Open crowd will be behind him, particularly now that he has become the first American man to reach three consecutive US Open quarter-finals since Andy Roddick in 2008, as per The Tennis Letter.
How far can Frances Tiafoe go at the US Open?
Tiafoe fell at this stage of the competition last year, losing out to compatriot Ben Shelton, who he has just beaten this time around.
That fine venture came after an even better run in 2022, when Tiafoe reached the semi-finals, his best-ever Grand Slam finish.
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It was eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz who got the better of the American two years ago, but he will have learned a lot from the defeat.
Fellow American Roddick reached the final in one of his three consecutive runs to the US Open quarter-finals between 2006 and 2008, losing to Roger Federer.
Tiafoe will now be eyeing a final spot, especially having lost to Jannik Sinner in the Cincinnati Open final, but a stern test against Dimitrov is up first.
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