Frances Tiafoe gets past ‘annoying’ opponent as American charge continues – ‘Man, what is he doing?’

Frances Tiafoe wobbled early on as he struggled to come to grips with Adrian Mannarino’s crafty play, but he eventually found a way to solve the puzzle to book his place in the last 16 of the US Open.

The victory meant that for the first time in more than a decade four American men are in the fourth round of the hard-court Grand Slam after ninth seed Taylor Fritz, 14th seed Tommy Paul and youngster Ben Shelton all advanced earlier in the day.

And four could still become five as Michael Mmoh will face Jack Draper on Saturday.

For Tiafoe it was an opportunity to test his craft as Mannarino is never an easy opponent to face and he ultimately passed the test with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory on Arthur Ashe.

“He is so annoying to play. He’s just bunting the ball around, it’s so slow. You look at him like, ‘Man, what is he doing?’ But it is so effective, the ball stays so low,” the 10th seed said after the two hour and 57-minute contest.

“He makes you create and makes you want to feel like you have to overplay. He defends really well, so he is super tough and obviously has a great lefty serve. I’m happy the match is over and I won. He is super annoying to play.”

Mannarino broke in game five of the opening set and Tiafoe acknowledged he was sloppy, but the American stormed back with breaks in games six and eight of the second set while a single break in game two of the third set gave him a two-set to one lead.

The fourth set was a mixed affair as the pair shared four breaks before Tiafoe edged the tie-breaker.

“I played a loose game early in the first set and then after that, I thought I was a better player even though I lost the set, had a ton of break points,” he said.

“I was definitely finding my rhythm, so I just used that as confidence and kept going. I was super mad that I gave back a break in the fourth [set] and made it real complicated for myself in the end. But I got it done and feels good to be in the fourth round.”

Up next is Australian Ricky Hijikata after the wildcard defeated Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

READ MORE: Alexander Zverev makes his point on the Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz hype