Tiafoe, Shelton, Zverev advance on hot, humid day at US Open

Frances Tiafoe had short work on the steamiest day of the US Open, advancing to the third round — where a highly anticipated all-American clash awaits — when his opponent  Alexander Shevchenko retired in the third set. 

Tiafoe, who reached the US Open semifinals in 2022, was in complete control Wednesday when Shevchenko, who had the trainer out after the second set, suddenly called it a day with Tiafoe leading 6-4, 6-1, 1-0.

“Happy to get it done. Hate to win it that way but overall I thought I actually played pretty well today,” the 20th-seeded Tiafoe said after a stress-free victory during which he changed shirts five times.

Tiafoe has now won 11 of his past 15 matches since bringing David Witt on as his coach in Atlanta, highlighted by a run to his first Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati. Prior to that, Tiafoe had a 15-15 record at the tour level this season through Wimbledon.

Up next for Tiafoe is a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal with compatriot and No. 13 seed  Ben Shelton, who closed out the day session on Grandstand with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista Agut, a match in which he fired 17 aces and 60 winners. 

Shelton eliminated Tiafoe in straight sets a year ago and promised a “popcorn-type match” when the two meet again.

“Obviously he’s very much like me in how excited and energetic he is on the court,” Tiafoe said, “and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going.”

“You guys made this draw so it’s exciting,” Shelton said in his postmatch on-court remarks.

In other men’s singles results from Wednesday, Alexander Zverev dispatched Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on a sweltering Louis Armstrong Stadium court.

Zverev is now one win shy of 100 career major match wins and is inching closer toward joining Boris Becker (163) and Tommy Haas (105) as the only German men to win 100 or more major matches.

The big-serving fourth seed blasted 15 aces and employed a drop-shot finesse at the net to preserve his hopes of capturing a career-first major after a runner-up finish at Roland Garros.

Zverev proved too much for world No. 77 Muller, who committed 41 unforced errors and battled through an apparent leg injury in brutal temperatures and high humidity at Flushing Meadows.

Zverev closed out the match with a final ace to set up a third-round meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who vomited amid the stifling conditions but got past fellow Argentinian  Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Zverev said he was pleased to get through in three sets given the “very hot, very humid” conditions. 

“I was at some point very, very wet. The whole court was flooded from me,” Zverev said. “But I felt good physically.”

Another men’s third-round matchup will have No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the US Open semifinals in 2019, against Tallon Griekspoor. Dimitrov swept past Rinky Hijikata, while Griekspoor advanced when No. 21 seed Sebastian Baez stopped playing in the second set of their match.

Unseeded Francisco Comesana came from a set down to upset 17th-seeded Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American in the men’s draw at No. 12, caps play in Louis Armstrong Stadium against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, with defending champion Novak Djokovic on the schedule Wednesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

With temperatures surpassing 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the extreme weather policy was in effect Wednesday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, meaning players are allowed a 10-minute break between the third and fourth sets if either player requests a break. 

Second-round opponents Andrey Rublev and Arthur Rinderknech wrapped themselves in ice towels during the changeovers, and Rinderknech fell to the court from exhaustion after a 37-shot rally. The match was briefly halted in the second set when a spectator required medical attention.

The No. 6 seed Rublev, who entering Wednesday was 1-19 after dropping the first two sets in best-of-five matches, completed the second two-set comeback of his career with a 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win. 

Jiri Lehecka ignored the heat to engineer the biggest comeback of his career, rallying to beat Mitchell Krueger 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a match that finished a minute shy of four hours. Lehecka, the No. 32 seed, not only came from two sets down for the first time in his career, but he was even down 3-0 in the third set against the American qualifier.

“I kind of dug back into the match with a big fight, and then the fourth set and fifth set was just a battle and we were both fighting for every point,” Lehecka said.

ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.