Tiafoe, Fritz win again, continuing American charge at U.S. Open

It has been a hugely successful U.S. Open for the host nation so far.

Four American men–Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Brandon Nakashima, and Tommy Paul–reached the fourth round. Tiafoe and Fritz are already into the quarterfinals after beating Alexei Popyrin and Casper Ruud, respectively, on Sunday. Before Tiafoe took down Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 in an electric Arthur Ashe Stadium night session, Fritz overcame Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Tiafoe’s run also includes an epic five-set win over good friend and countryman Ben Shelton, perhaps the match of the tournament up this point.

Paul will look to make it three American men in the last eight on Monday, although world No. 1 Jannik Sinner stands in his way. Nakashima’s impressive run came to an end with a four-set loss to Alexander Zverev.

“It’s amazing,” Paul said after winning his third-round match on Saturday. “I hope that you guys watched that with Ben and Foe; that was an amazing match. I think there’s going to be a lot more of those in the next five to ten years. We have a great group of guys, and Nakashima is stepping up. I mean, he’s been playing awesome. He really has.

“You know, it’s exciting. It’s an exciting time. We all want to do really, really well here. We all want to make it to the last weekend. Hopefully at some point we’re playing each other in the last weekend.”

On the women’s side, defending champion Coco Gauff bowed out in the fourth round–but her ouster came at the hands of fellow American Emma Navarro. Jessica Pegula, the Toronto champion, will try to join Navarro in the quarters when she takes the court on Monday. Pegula–and Navarro, for that matter–is looking like a very real Grand Slam title contender. 

Far away from the big stages of Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadium, there is yet another American man still alive at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center–one who is much more unlikely and under-the-radar.

Donald Young–yes, the same Donald Young who reached the U.S. Open fourth round in both 2011 and 2015–is into the mixed doubles quarterfinals with partner Taylor Townsend. Young, 35, last played singles in September of 2023. He is now a pickleball player, but he has picked up his tennis rackets for one last hoorah in New York before officially retiring from the sport.

It’s a retirement that figured to come much earlier in the tournament, but Young and Townsend have improbably reeled off a pair of victories to earn a place in the quarterfinals.

“It’s been a long time,” the Atlanta native said in an interview for the U.S. Open website. “I’ve been watching it on TV the last few years. They were nice enough to let me play one last time. To play with Taylor, it’s awesome. It’s kind of a full-circle moment for me.”

Given how well the entire American contingent is performing this fortnight, who knows how far they could go?

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