"People love him probably more than me"- How Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe have reacted to confirming all-American blockbuster 'war' in US Open 3R
Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton will face off in an all-American clash in the third round of the 2024 US Open. Both players have expressed their excitement ahead of their encounter at Flushing Meadows.
Shelton has defeated the likes of Dominik Thiem and Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets to set up a clash with Tiafoe. World No. 20 Tiafoe, meanwhile defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic and Alexander Shevchenko en route to the third round.
After his win over Shevchenko in the second round, Frances Tiafoe looked ahead of his clash against Shelton, noting their similar energy and crowd-pleasing styles. The 26-year-old highlighted Shelton's sense of humor and jokingly pointed out that they share a similar level of immaturity.
"I definitely want to play against him. Obviously he is very much like me and how excited and energetic he is on the court and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going. And he is 20-21 years old. As a guy, he's just young and funny and crack jokes and just about as immature as I am. We always have fun joking around and cracking jokes for sure," Tiafoe said in his post match press conference [at - 00:58].
When asked about Shelton's toughest on-court attribute, Tiafoe pointed to his serve, noting that the 21-year-old has one of the best serves on tour.
"Obviously he has got one of the better serves on the tour, no question. Especially lefty and he hit all spots and all change paces quite well so that is going to be tough I'm super excited," he added [at - 1:38].
Meanwhile, the thirteenth-seeded Ben Shelton shared similar excitement about facing Frances Tiafoe, acknowledging that fans love the latter more than him. He added that he is anticipating a "war" in the third round.
"I know that the people love him here probably more than me. He is electric here and his crowds are electric here. I was watching his match on Louis [Armstrong court] the other night and it was pretty cool to watch. We are good friends, it will be a battle, it will be a war just like the last two times we played. I am more than excited to be out there with him again, " Shelton said at his press conference [at - 2:00].
Both Shelton and Tiafoe will be aiming to become the first American to win the US Open in men's singles since Andy Roddick's 2003 triumph.
Frances Tiafoe has lost both his previous encounters against Ben Shelton
This will mark the third overall meeting between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, and their second at the US Open. Their previous encounter was in the final of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship earlier in April, where Shelton convincingly defeated Tiafoe in straight sets.
Notably, they also faced each other in last year's US Open quarterfinals. Both players showed resilience, but Shelton ultimately defeated Tiafoe 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.
The winner of this match will advance to face either second seed Novak Djokovic or Alexei Popyrin in the following round.