US Open 2024: Frances Tiafoe beats Alexei Popyrin to great delight at Arthur Ashe Stadium as the American storms into the quarterfinals

Frances Tiafoe lives in New York.

Although he is from Maryland, his best Grand Slam result was at the US Open, and there is something visceral about the crowd's reaction to him at the Arthur Ashe tournament – perhaps even compared to other Americans.

This bond was clearly visible on Sunday evening when the world number 20 defeated Novak Djokovic's conqueror Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6 and 6-3 in the fourth round.

It wasn't always easy to play against the 1.95 meter tall Popyrin and his powerful serve (he hit 24 aces in the match), but Tiafoe always seemed to be the more confident of the two in longer rallies and kept a cool head even in some of the most intense moments of the match – with the crowd firmly behind him.

They were there, reaching truly deafening proportions when he took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak after a crosscourt winner, and they cheered him on when he wasted a double match point (and suffered a break) before finally finishing things off.

Popyrin had a big lead in the second set and won the third, but Tiafoe was too much

Ultimately, Tiafoe’s skillful play was too much for Popyrin – especially because the American had thousands of fans around him.

“I've always dreamed of playing on this pitch,” he said afterwards in the stadium. “… You are incredible fans and that's what makes it so much fun out here.”

Tiafoe, who is in the quarterfinals of the US Open for the third year in a row on Tuesday, has established himself as a huge crowd favorite in New York – and spoke afterwards about how he has refined his ability to use the crowd to his advantage.

“I think you have to pick the right moments because you can get so high because New Yorkers are excited about everything,” he said. “You just have to pick the right moments. But yeah, I've figured it out a lot better.”

“…You know, I sweat a lot, so I don't want to spend so much energy celebrating and scoring points instead of staying in the moment. It's kind of about figuring it out. Of course, you always have to make an effort by keeping your distance from the others, taking breaks and solidifying breaks and things like that.”

As the match progressed, Tiafoe certainly felt the love of the crowd, even though the 2022 US Open semifinalist struggled to come back early as Popyrin hit six aces in his first three service games.

Tiafoe cheered the crowd after winning the match with a forehand winner

He seemed comfortable as he played longer points against Popyrin and fired 14 aces himself

Tiafoe was also 1-15 down in the first set and leading 1-2, but avoided this early break chance for Popyrin and proved his own serving skills with two aces in the following deuce.

And Popyrin, the world number 28 who won the Canadian Open last month, faded late in the first set when Tiafoe made a crucial break in the ninth game before serving out the set.

The second movement initially seemed to belong to Popyrin.

He survived a break point in a five-deuce marathon to take a 2-1 lead before earning his first break of the match in the following game – after Tiafoe was forced to chase a clever drop shot and allowed his opponent an easy volley at the net.

But Tiafoe, who was trailing 2-5 in the second set, did not want to simply give up and wanted to prepare for a third set.

Popyrin held a three-set point at 5-3, but incredibly was unable to close the deal as Tiafoe continued to put him under pressure with longer ball contacts.

He double-faulted shortly after to give Tiafoe a crucial break back, and there were no more service errors for the rest of the set until it went to a tiebreak, where Tiafoe capitalized on his previously built momentum to hit three winners (and a set-winning ace).

The third set also began with an early break for Popyrin, who quickly gained a 3-1 lead.

The performance felt a bit like a hangover from the previous one, where Tiafoe – and the crowd – had spent so much energy fighting back. Chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” emanated from the upper parts of the stadium.

And although Tiafoe fended off three break points in a row to reduce Popryin's lead to 3-2, he ran out of steam and made nine unforced errors, allowing the Australian to quickly get back into the game.

“He was hitting a lot more higher balls and forcing me to come forward, slicing the backhand a lot more … that was a good change for him,” Tiafoe said afterward.

In the fourth set, Tiafoe came back stronger, fought back from a 0-30 deficit at 1-1 and held his serve before making a decisive break after six games to take a 4-2 lead.

Tiafoe seems to have a special relationship with the US Open crowd, who have known him well since he reached the 2022 semifinals.

Popyrin was in a huge bind at this point and his fate was confirmed not long after.

Although he initially missed two match points at 5-3, leaving the door ajar for the Australian, Tiafoe finally hit a forehand winner to win – which he celebrated by stretching his arms out towards the cheering crowd.

They will be able to watch him take on world number 9 Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday and one would expect Tiafoe to show the same determination he showed in the fourth round.

“I'm a very, very tough guy, man,” he said. “You know, I can turn things around very, very quickly if I put my mind to it.”