Tiafoe Recovers From Two Sets Down to Beat Michelsen and Reach US Open Semis
Frances Tiafoe has reached the US Open semi-finals for a third time after recovering from two sets down to beat fellow American Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6).
The 11th seed had looked well beaten before turning the match around, and even trailed 3-0 in the deciding set before finding a way back.
Michelsen Serves for the Match
Michelsen had been the story of the tournament to that point, the only man left in the draw who had not dropped a set. He took the opening two comfortably and served for the match at 5-4 in the third.
He could not close it out. Tiafoe sensed the moment, later saying he had hoped his opponent would tighten up and that he was handed a couple of gifts in the form of double faults. From there he found his rhythm, took the third set and gradually raised his level.
The fifth set followed the same pattern. Michelsen moved 3-0 ahead before Tiafoe hauled himself back into it, eventually sealing the win in the deciding tie-break with a forehand winner in front of a loud Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
Tiafoe was blunt about how he had started, saying his performance was slow and flat and repeating that it simply was not good. He described the five-set format as a blessing because it gave him time to sort himself out, adding that he had left it as late as possible.
Michelsen, ranked 46th, hit 21 aces in the match, which ended a tournament run which gained him plenty of admirers for his run. Unfortunately, however, the loss meant he fell to 0-6 in matches that have gone to a fifth set.
Three Semi-Finals
The win takes Tiafoe alongside Andre Agassi as the only American men to reach three US Open semi-finals this century.
His previous two ended in defeat. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz in 2022, the year the Spaniard won the first of his Grand Slam titles, and to fellow American Taylor Fritz in 2024, when the United States came closest to ending its long wait for a men's champion.
That drought stands at 23 years, dating to Andy Roddick's win in 2003. It will end this weekend on one side of the draw at least, because Tiafoe's semi-final opponent is another American.
Shelton Awaits
Ben Shelton beat defending champion Alcaraz later the same night, winning 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a match that finished at 3:33am, the latest ever at the tournament.
Shelton leads their head-to-head 3-1, with two of those four meetings coming in New York. He won a quarter-final between the pair in 2023 before Tiafoe took a third-round match in 2024.
Tiafoe has spoken about the strength of American men's tennis at present, pointing to Fritz's sustained run of form alongside himself, Shelton, Michelsen and others, and saying there is a good group playing well and someone always going deep at majors.
Both men know the winner will play for a title no one left in the draw has won before, after Alcaraz's exit guaranteed a first-time US Open champion. The semi-finals take place on Friday, with the final on Sunday.
