US Open: Tiafoe turns it on for the crowd with straight sets win

American Frances Tiafoe, the No 10 seed, beat Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

It’s safe to say that the US Open brings the best out in Frances “Big Foe” Tiafoe. The American has won seven of his past eight matches here, and with his victory over Ofner on Wednesday night, makes the third round for the fourth straight year.

With plenty of big stars watching, including rapper Pusha T, whose hand Tiafoe shook after the match, the American turned it on for the crowd, crushing 21 winners to just 14 unforced errors as he won 88 percent of first serve points across the match.

Facing only one break point in the one hour, 32 minutes spent on court, Tiafoe broke Ofner’s serve five times as well.

Tiafoe wants more this US Open

Speaking on court after the match, Tiafoe signalled his intent this year at the US Open:

“Me and Taylor are top 10. Tommy’s knocking on the door. We all grew up together. American tennis is in a good place. Hopefully we all keep going and we stop that streak of Roddick in 2003. Hopefully it happens here.”

It’s been two decades now since an American man won the US Open, with the streak Tiafoe referred to dating back to the 2003 US Open. If the world No 10 keeps playing this brand of tennis, who knows how far he can go with a raucous American crowd behind him.

Tiafoe, ranked No 10, will play Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 22 seed, next. Ahead of his victory, the American won against wildcard Learner Tien (6-2, 7-5, 6-1).

Ofner, ranked No 58, edged out Portuguese Nuno Borges (7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4) in the previous round of the Flushing Meadows tournament.

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Lloyd Harris
• Felipe Meligeni Alves vs. Sebastian Baez
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Daniel Evans
• Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Alex Michelsen
• Yibing Wu vs. Alex De Minaur
• Yu Hsiou Hsu vs. Cameron Norrie
• Arthur Fils vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Andy Murray vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Jack Draper vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Michael Mmoh vs. John Isner
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Jannik Sinner
• Alexander Zverev vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Juan Pablo Varillas vs. Taylor Fritz
• Casper Ruud vs. Zhizhen Zhang: wednesday
• Titouan Droguet vs. Jakub Mensik: wednesday
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21) beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo: 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Roman Safiullin: 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Marton Fucsovics: 6-1, 6-2, 6-1
• Ben Shelton beat Dominic Thiem: 7-6 (1), 1-0 ret.
• Adrian Mannarino beat Fabian Marozsan: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
• Jiri Vesely beat Francisco Cerundolo (20): 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (6)
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-4, 6-1, 6-1
• Benjamin Bonzi (WC) beat Christopher Eubanks (28): 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Aslan Karatsev beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Laslo Djere (32) beat Hugo Gaston (Q): 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
• Borna Gojo (Q) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Dominic Stricker (Q) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (7): 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3