American tennis player and local boy Frances Tiafoe rocked the Louis Armstrong Stadium as he defeated his long-time Russian rival Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round of the on-going US Open 2026. Fans inside the venue erupted in massive joy as the hometown hero secured an encouraging and hard fought 6 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory.
This was Frances Tiafoe’s straight 10th victory on the trot in this venue which has proved to be a happy hunting ground for him in the recent past but his head-to-head record against Daniil Medvedev was not particularly good. Tiafoe had lost six of his seven meetings with Medvedev and won only once before this.
However, the American did not seem to let it bother him as he came from behind by 5-6 in the first set against the 2021 men’s US Open champion and he did not look back after it. The final set came down to a tie breaker with Tiafoe holding on with some very good tennis as he completed the victory over Medvedev quite comfortably.
It was only last month that Frances Tiafoe underwent a surgery and less than a month later, the American has beaten an opponent who has historically had the better of him.
While speaking after the match, Tiafoe acknowledged Daniil Medvedev’s superiority before expressing his happiness about the fact that it was his first victory against the Russian in a regular match. The American also gave an encouraging news, claiming that he feels very good and that he is having fun in the tournament.
“Daniil has been so good, he’s beaten me so many times. This is the first time I’ve beaten him in a regular match. Everything is feeling really good. I’m coming forward, I’m having fun,” Frances Tiafoe said after the match.
Frances Tiafoe will now be taking on fellow American Alex Michelsen in the quarter-finals of the US Open 2026 tomorrow with the timing yet to be confirmed. There are four more Round of 16 matches remaining in this year’s last Grand Slam.
The fixture that is expected to generate massive eyeballs in the last 16 is between Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Italy’s Luciano Darderi at 5:40AM (IST) tomorrow.