Frances Tiafoe gets his Ben Shelton revenge in five-set US Open thriller

Neither deserved to, but one had to go.

Redemption was served.

Yes, both figure to remain at the forefront of American men’s tennis for the foreseeable future.

But Frances Tiafoe finally has bragging rights in this friendly rivalry, and perhaps restored his stature as one of the top hopes for the United States to break its 21-year Grand Slam drought.

The heavily anticipated U.S. Open rematch between No. 13-ranked Ben Shelton and No. 20 Tiafoe — two of the best and most popular American men’s players — came earlier than what was desired, in the third round Friday afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Last year, Shelton beat Tiafoe in the quarterfinals in what went down as one of the most memorable matches of the tournament.

If last year’s classic was the appetizer, Friday’s 4:03, five-set encore was the main course.

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Shelton, still just 21 years old, and Tiafoe, 26, largely matched each other shot for shot, and it ended with a new result.

Tiafoe beat Shelton, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the fourth round.

He’ll face the winner of the (No. 2) Novak Djokovic-Alexei Popyrin (No. 28) match.

Each time it looked like Shelton was about to pull away, there was Tiafoe fighting his way right back into the match.

But Tiafoe kept providing answers, and eventually had more energy by the end.

Down two sets to one, Tiafoe beat Shelton 6-4 and broke him in the 10th game to win the fourth set and stay alive.

Then it became closing time for Tiafoe, who turned into Mariano Rivera in the fifth set and took off.

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Up 4-3 in the third set after splitting the first two sets, Shelton, a Florida native, broke Tiafoe after the latter double-faulted to go up 5-3.

But Tiafoe, with his back against the wall and the crowd encouraging him, then broke Shelton right back to pull back within 5-4, and won the next game to make it 5-5.

Two games later, Shelton recovered to win the tiebreak and set, though, capping it off with a 143 mph ace — the fastest serve of this year’s tournament,

Earlier, Shelton faced a triple break point in the seventh game of the second set after splitting the first six, but Tiafoe choked it away to instead fall behind 4-3 in the set.

Two games later, Tiafoe found himself up 40-0 again with another opportunity to break Shelton, but blew it once more.

Shelton came back to win the game, taking a 5-4 lead in the second set.

But Tiafoe, who grew up in Maryland, dug deep and won the next three games — breaking Shelton in the 11th game — to take the second set 7-5.

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Shelton capitalized on his first chance to break Tiafoe in the first set, letting out a loud shout as he won the fourth game and took a 3-1 lead.

Soon after, his 136 mph serve — which helped Shelton, who owns the fastest serve in the world, force deuce in the fifth game — drew an audible gasp.

Then, advantage-up in the game, Shelton dashed forward to return Tiafoe’s shot, which had smacked off the net, and after a rapid, highlight-reel back-and-forth, forced Tiafoe into an errant forehand.

It secured the fifth game for Shelton, and whipped the crowd into an early frenzy.

Tiafoe broke Shelton in the ninth game — the first time Shelton had been broken all tournament — to pull back within 5-4, but Shelton responded immediately with a break of his own to secure the first set, 6-4.

Tiafoe now has his first win against Shelton, whom he considered a mentor when he turned pro.

In addition to last year’s U.S. Open win, Shelton also beat Tiafoe in the Houston title match in April.

But Shelton’s ascension has been put on pause.

Tiafoe’s is back on track.

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