Frances Tiafoe, left, and Laguna Hills’ Alex Michelsen embrace after Tiafoe rallied from two sets down to win their U.S. Open quarterfinal in five sets on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Frances Tiafoe, of the United States, returns the ball to Alex Michelsen, of the United States, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Alex Michelsen, of the United States, returns the ball to Frances Tiafoe, of the United States, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Frances Tiafoe, of the United States, reacts during a match against Alex Michelsen, of the United States, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Alex Michelsen, of the United States, reacts during a match against Frances Tiafoe, of the United States, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Frances Tiafoe celebrates after erasing a two-set deficit to defeat Laguna Hills’ Alex Michelsen in five sets in a U.S. Open quarterfinal on Tuesday in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Linda Noskova, of the Czech Republic, returns the ball to Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, celebrates winning a match against Linda Noskova, of the Czech Republic, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe knew Alex Michelsen needed a shoulder to cry on.So after handing his fellow American a crushing defeat in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Tuesday, Tiafoe held Michelsen in a long embrace while the 22-year-old sobbed into his shoulder.
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“I really like Alex. I really, really do, and I just wanted to come up there and just dap him up,” Tiafoe, 28, said. “I didn’t think it was going to be as long as it was, but I understand the moment. He was definitely crying on my shoulders. Yeah, we just had some words for each other, and that was it.”
Michelsen, from Aliso Viejo, was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal and was just a few points from winning it after taking the first two sets. The 11th-seeded Tiafoe came back to win, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6), starting his turnaround after Michelsen failed to serve out the match with a 5-4 lead in the third set.
Michelsen said he didn’t speak much when they met at the net.
“I was trying to keep it together and I didn’t do a good job of that,” Michelsen said. “He was saying a lot of nice personal things. ‘You’ll be there. When I’m older, you’re going to be here, and we’re going to play it again in this type of circumstance.’ All that good stuff. He’s a great guy for consoling me in that moment.”
Tiafoe, who trailed 3-0 in the fifth set before winning the match in 4 hours, 38 minutes, said his performance to start the match was slow and flat.
“It wasn’t good, let’s put it that way. It wasn’t good,” he said. “Three out of five is a blessing, because you have time to get it together. I definitely waited for the last minute.”
Tiafoe, who reached the final four in 2022 and 2024, awaits the winner of the late match between defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and No. 8 Ben Shelton, who will try to guarantee the Americans have someone in the final Sunday as they seek their first men’s Grand Slam title since 2003.
Tiafoe planned to watch some of it.
“I’m going to enjoy this one, though. Let’s go!” he told the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Tiafoe lost to Alcaraz in 2022, when the Spaniard won his first of seven Grand Slam titles. Tiafoe lost to fellow American Taylor Fritz two years later, when the U.S. came closest to ending its men’s drought that dates to Andy Roddick’s title in Flushing Meadows.
It certainly didn’t appear Tiafoe would be going back this time, after Michelsen continued his dominant run through his breakout tournament. He was the only man who hadn’t dropped a set, and he served to win the match with a 5-4 lead in the third. He got off to a nervous start with consecutive double-faults and Tiafoe eventually broke when Michelsen couldn’t put away a shot at the net.
“I feel the first three sets I was on top of him. I feel like he didn’t really – he wasn’t playing like Frances. Then I kind of let him back in at 5-4,” Michelsen said. “Then after that, he was playing like Frances does on Ashe. After that, it was a dogfight.”
Tiafoe, who had made two previous comebacks after dropping the first two sets, was still in plenty of trouble. Michelsen broke early in the fifth en route to his 3-0 lead, with Tiafoe spiking his racket to the court in frustration at one point.
But he recovered again and eventually took control by winning three straight points in the match tiebreaker for a 7-4 lead, then hitting an ace at 135 mph after Michelsen got the next two.
Tiafoe joined Andre Agassi as the only American men to reach three U.S. Open semifinals in this century and will return to the top 10 for the first time in three years in the next rankings.
This was the third pro match between the two, with Tiafoe winning both previous encounters. Michelsen said after his fourth-round victory that Tiafoe was an “unbelievable guy and a very good friend of mine,” and said similar after Tuesday’s defeat.
“I don’t think anyone else could have made me cry in that moment, to be honest,” Michelsen said.
Tiafoe is one of the leaders of American men’s tennis and a fan favorite at the U.S. Open. He said Sunday in looking ahead to the match that he had developed a good relationship with Michelsen.
“We’re always laughing and joking,” he said.
Michelsen, who fell to 0-6 in matches that go to a fifth set, left the court with a towel on his head, raising his arm to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd. Tiafoe told those fans what he thought of Michelsen’s performance.
“I mean, he easily could have won today so shout out to Alex Michelsen,” Tiafoe said.
SABALENKA EDGES NOSKOVA
Aryna Sabalenka thought it was all slipping away. Her U.S. Open title reign and her lengthy hold on the No. 1 ranking in women’s tennis were just about gone.
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Then Sabalenka proved she’s not giving any of it up without a fight.
Sabalenka kept alive her hopes for a third straight U.S. Open title by edging Linda Noskova, 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (10-7), in a thrilling quarterfinal matchup of major champions.
“What a battle. What an incredible player she is and I’m speechless right now because I was pushing myself to the limit in this match, especially in the third set,” Sabalenka said. “I honestly thought that that’s it, the match is over and probably that’s what helped me to kind of like, I don’t know, feel loose and just go after my shots.”
Sabalenka finished off the match with a second-serve ace to turn back the Wimbledon champion and reach the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the sixth straight year.
Sabalenka – who needed to win to maintain any hope of keeping the No. 1 ranking – will face either third-seeded Jessica Pegula, who rallied to beat No. 26 Emma Navarro, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Sabalenka beat Pegula in the 2024 final and against last year in the semifinals after dropping the first set.
Noskova, the No. 6 seed, won her first major title at the All England Club and narrowly missed becoming the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to follow a title on the grass by reaching the final four on the hard courts of New York.
Sabalenka was in danger of her earliest exit at the U.S. Open since going out in the second round in 2020 when Noskova got a break in the third set en route to a 4-2 lead. Sabalenka held and then played one of her best games of the match, breaking at love to tie it at 4-all.
“I just felt at some point in the third set she was definitely serving better than me and putting so much pressure on me,” Sabalenka said. “But I’m glad that I kind of threw that thought away and I was able to focus point by point and, like, literally just trying to build something bigger in that moment.
“I got, not lucky, but I’m happy the way I broke her serve at 3-4. I think I really played a great intensity level of tennis, and that really gave me so much confidence that I still can get the win in this match.”
She did, avoiding her first loss at the U.S. Open since Coco Gauff beat her in the 2023 final.
Noskova finished with 46 winners to Sabalenka’s 42, and she hit 18 aces to Sabalenka’s 12. Both players were able to end points quickly, and Sabalenka also showed off some impressive speed in tracking down drop shots.
Sabalenka came to the U.S. Open far off her usual form on hard courts, losing in the fourth round in both Toronto and Cincinnati after falling at that stage at Wimbledon. But she had recovered in New York, not dropping a set en route to the quarterfinals.
She appeared to be struggling to stay under control at one point, changing her racket during the third set while trying to regain her touch. She went behind 2-0 in the match tiebreaker but pulled ahead for good when Noskova double-faulted to make it 4-3, and Sabalenka took the next two points for some critical breathing room.
“Being a break up in the third set, it’s not very easy. Also having a little break at the start of the tiebreak in the third one, as well, it’s frustrating, obviously,” Noskova said.
“But at the same time, Aryna, she played the best tennis that she could in those moments, which didn’t really make it easy for me.”
Sabalenka will lose the No. 1 ranking she has held for 99 consecutive weeks if No. 2 Elena Rybakina beats Zheng Qinwen on Wednesday to reach the semifinals. If Rybakina loses, Sabalenka can keep her hold on it by winning the title.
Noskova finished with her best run at the U.S. Open. She had reached only one major quarterfinal, at the 2024 Australian Open, before beating fellow Czech Karolina Muchova for the Wimbledon title.
The lengthy day session gave Pegula and Navarro a late start, nearly 90 minutes after the usual 7 p.m. ET beginning of the night session. Navarro was much better once it finally did begin, breaking Pegula’s serve twice in the opening set.
Pegula found her best tennis late, winning four straight games to take control after Navarro had broken her for a 2-1 lead in the third set.
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More to come on this story.