{"id":833041,"date":"2026-09-01T13:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/833041\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T13:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:02:13","slug":"frances-tiafoe-rallies-to-hold-off-fellow-americans-upset-bid-in-us-open-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/833041\/","title":{"rendered":"Frances Tiafoe rallies to hold off fellow American&#8217;s upset bid in US Open thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Frances Tiafoe\u2019s U.S. Open run nearly was cut short by his countryman.<\/p>\n<p>Only one of Tiafoe or Martin Damm Jr. could go on in hopes of ending the 23-year Grand Slam title drought for American men, but Tiafoe prevailed after rallying from down two sets to one to take a 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over the Florida native.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTennis is tennis, and obviously it\u2019s fitting to have it here in New York,\u201d Tiafoe said during his on-court interview. \u201cIt was a crazy match. He had such a good serve. \u2026 In the last two sets, I just wanted to be tough. \u2026 I\u2019ve won matches this year that I shouldn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40604254\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/frances-tiafoe-united-states-left-139148427.jpg\" alt=\"Frances Tiafoe and Martin Damm embrace on the tennis court.\" class=\"wp-image-40604254\"\/>Frances Tiafoe of the United States, left, embraces Martin Damm of the United States after Tiafoe won their match during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40604244\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/frances-tiafoe-united-states-right-139148420.jpg\" alt=\"Frances Tiafoe, right, embraces Martin Damm after Tiafoe won their match.\" class=\"wp-image-40604244\"\/>Frances Tiafoe, right, embraces Martin Damm after Tiafoe won their match during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n<p>Tiafoe looked sturdy in his first set of the tournament, holding firm on his serve and leaving Damm little opportunity to counter. And after a grueling run to the Cincinnati Open final earlier this month, when he battled extreme physical fatigue and painful cramps later in the tournament, Tiafoe appeared to be handling the physical demand just fine.<\/p>\n<p>Responding with a strong service game of his own, however, Damm blasted seven aces on his way to evening the match at one set apiece.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when the match got dicey for Tiafoe, who double-faulted four times in the third set alone before finishing with six on the night.<\/p>\n<p>The final game of the third set could\u2019ve been a major blow to Tiafoe. Failing to convert on four break points, Tiafoe found himself locked at deuce with Damm a whopping seven times.<\/p>\n<p>Damm required four set points of his own before he could put the set away and take a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd was behind Tiafoe as he ramped up his game in the final two sets to avoid what would\u2019ve been his earliest exit in Flushing since 2017. Tiafoe had the advantage in the return game and secured three out of nine total break chances, which helped him separate himself from Damm.<\/p>\n<p>Tiafoe, who has never made it past the semifinals of the U.S. Open, will face Japan\u2019s Rei Sakamoto in Round 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frances Tiafoe\u2019s U.S. Open run nearly was cut short by his countryman. Only one of Tiafoe or Martin&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[15511,99,428,14687],"class_list":["post-833041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-frances-tiafoe","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-us-open-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}