US Open – Frances Tiafoe’s comeback upsets Andrey Rublev to reach fourth round at Flushing Meadows

Frances Tiafoe made a stunning comeback in the early hours of Saturday morning to beat Andrey Rublev in the third round of the US Open.

American Tiafoe, 23, won 4-6 6-3 7-6(6) 4-6 6-1 after almost four hours, with a small crowd sticking around until after 02:00 local time.

Tiafoe told the remaining fans after the match: “You guys are the reason I got it done tonight. You guys stuck with me all the way through. I love these matches… these are the matches I train for. I came out here thinking ‘I want to beat him’. Let’s keep going.”

Rublev’s strong serves took control of the opening set, but Tiafoe fought hard to match the Russian and found a second wind in the fifth set, quickly jumping to 5-0 lead.

“I wasn’t going to leave this court without winning tonight,” Tiafoe said.

The world No. 50 will face Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round.