US Open: Tiafoe continues magical run, top seed Swiatek reaches semis

New York:  Frances Tiafoe sent the home crowd into a frenzy after beating ninth seed Russian Andrey Rublev 7-6(3), 7-6(0), 6-4, becoming the first American to advance to the US Open men’s singles semifinals since 2006.

The 24-year-old No. 22 seed continued his good form on Wednesday after he ousted 22-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal, in the fourth round.

“This is wild. This is crazy. Having the biggest win in my life 24 hours ago [then] come back and back it up,” Tiafoe said. “It’s huge growth. It’s tough to turn the page.”

Tiafoe’s first career Grand Slam semifinal will come on Friday against 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who had a marathon duel that lasted more than five hours to beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3 in five sets.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland advanced to her first US Open semifinals after eliminating No. 8 Jessica Pegula, the last American standing in the women’s singles 6-3, 7-6(4). The back-and-forth second set saw both players combine 10 breaks in its 12 games.

“I’m really happy that I’m working to keep my expectations low because today was such a tough match,” said Swiatek. “The level was great, so I’m really happy that I handled it.”

The 21-year-old will then face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the semifinals after the sixth seed’s 6-1, 7-6(4) dismissal of 2016 US Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova earlier on Wednesday.

China’s Zhang Shuai and Mate Pavic of Croatia were stunned by Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-4, 7-5, 10-6 in the mixed doubles semifinals.

All Chinese players have now bowed out of this year’s US Open, yet many of them achieved the best results of their careers. 33-year-old Zhang reached the last 16 in the women’s singles for the first time after defeating Canada’s Rebecca Marino in straight sets.

Yuan Yue, Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xiyu all advanced to the women’s singles last 32, while Wu Yibing also reached the third round in the men’s singles, setting another milestone for Chinese players.

–IANS