Big show of strength
U.S. players Tifoe, Fritz stun seeded foes in Round 2
Frances Tiafoe flexes
MELBOURNE, Australia — Frances Tiafoe rolled up his white shirt’s right sleeve, flexed his biceps and slapped the muscle five times. Then he pounded his chest and yelled, “Yeah! Let’s go! Let’s go! Come on!”
Forgive the young American’s exuberance. This was, after all, the biggest victory of his nascent career.
Down a set and 3-0 in the second, the 20-yearold Tiafoe came back to stun two-time Grand Slam finalist and No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday in the Australian Open’s second round.
“I went to a different place. I dug insanely deep,” the 39th-ranked Tiafoe said. “It’s all about competing. Guys are so good. It’s just about how badly you want it. I want it real bad.”
He was joined in the third round by another kid from the U.S. who’d never been that far at Melbourne Park, 21-year-old Taylor Fritz, who saved 12 of the 13 break points he faced while dispatching No. 30 seed Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).
Next for Fritz is a matchup against Roger Federer, the two-time defending champion in Australia and owner of 20 Grand Slam titles.
“I grew up watching a lot of the guys I play today. I can’t tell you how many times I watched Monfils’ highlight reel on YouTube, just growing up. ‘Fed,’ obviously, my whole life growing up, he was always the best, winning everything,” Fritz said. “So it’s really cool being able to step on the court with him again.”
A day after American men went 1-5, the country’s contingent produced those two upsets and threw a couple of scares into other seeded players, too, but couldn’t pull off the wins.
“This group (of Americans) really deserves the hype, I guess, because I think everyone’s good,” Fritz said.
For Tiafoe, it helped that Anderson’s best attribute, his intimidating serve, slowed down along the way because of problems with his right arm. Anderson was visited by a trainer during changeovers and he lost pace on his first serves as the match wore on.
Anderson was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year and at the U.S. Open in 2017 and had won all three previous matchups against Tiafoe.
But Tiafoe ended a sixmatch losing streak against top-10 opponents and is now into the third round at a major for the second time, equaling his best showing.
“These are the matches where they kind of define you and help you feel more and more comfortable to keep winning matches like that,” Tiafoe said. “So, yeah, I’m definitely going to remember this one.”
As for his postmatch flex, Tiafoe said: “I hope the crowd liked it.”