Tiafoe pulls all-nigther to advance

In his finest moment at Arthur Ashe Stadium, there weren’t a lot of folks still around for the theatrical Frances Tiafoe as Friday night flashed into Saturday morning at the U.S. Open.

Approximately 650 fans had stuck it out until 2:14 a.m., and they were extremely rowdy, if not plentiful. And Tiafoe sounded like he wanted to shake the hand of each one.

“You guys are the reason I got it done tonight,’’ Tiafoe told the crowd on the court. “It was definitely tricky. You guys stuck with me all the way through. You all did it.”

Tiafoe, a Maryland product, put on a fifth-set clinic to finish off the fifth-seeded Russian, Andrey Rublev, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-1.

The five-set marathon win put the 23-year-old into the fourth round for the second straight year at the Open. On Sunday, he will face 12th-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at Ashe Stadium. Tiafoe can expect the

full crowd this time against the 21-year-old.

Tiafoe, who rifled 69 winners, has yet to advance to an Open quarterfinal, and USTA officials are hoping to just get one American men’s player into the second week.

Tiafoe and Auger-Aliassime haven’t faced off since the juniors. The Canadian advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals this June, before losing to eventual finalist Matteo Berrettini.

“I’ve lost a lot of five-setters,’’ Tiafoe said after his upset of Rublev. “My five-set record isn’t great. [But] I can’t not bring it,” I’ve lost a lot of tough matches on this court . ... I wasn’t going to leave this court without a win tonight.”