NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe returned to the US Open quarterfinals for the third year in a row and beat Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3 on Sunday night.
The No. 20 seed will look to match his career-best Grand Slam record when he faces the No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals.
Tiafoe lost to the eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in that round in 2022, and was knocked out last year in the quarter-finals by Ben Shelton.
Tiafoe is the first American man to reach three straight US Open quarterfinals since then Andy Roddick from 2006-08.
He turned the match late in the second set, when Popyrin served for a 5-3 lead and was one point away from leveling it at a set apiece. Tiafoe won the next five break points and quickly took control of the tiebreaker by jumping to a 4-1 lead.
Popyrin, seed no. 28 from Australia, upset defending champion Novak Djokovic on Friday to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.