Frances Tiafoe has earned another shot at superstardom. The 28-year-old tennis star, a Maryland native, will face Ben Shelton on Friday in a highly anticipated U.S. Open semifinal. A win would put him one step away from his first major title and a chance to be the first American man to win the U.S. Open singles bracket since 2003.
Tiafoe advanced to the semifinals after a thrilling five-set defeat of 22-year-old American Alex Michelsen on Tuesday. Down two sets early, he rallied for a 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6) win.
Tiafoe and Michelsen had an emotional hug at the end of the match that quickly went viral.
“I really like Alex. I really, really do, and I just wanted to come up there and just dap him up,” Tiafoe 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.”
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Later — much later — in the day’s slate, Shelton upset Carlos Alcaraz to set a semifinal meeting.
The last time Shelton and Tiafoe faced off was at the D.C. Open in July 2025. Shelton defeated Tiafoe in straight sets. Shelton owns a 3-1 record in their lifetime series.
Fellow Maryland native and Sportscenter host Scott Van Pelt tweeted in support of Tiafoe after Tuesday’s win, as did the University of Maryland’s official athletic account. Tiafoe, who was born and raised near College Park, has attended many Terps games over the years.
Tiafoe’s story is well known by now. His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Sierra Leone to escape the country’s civil war, and his father, Frances Sr., worked construction on the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park. Frances Sr. lived out of the tennis center for more than a decade and Tiafoe, and his twin brother, Franklin, learned to play the sport in their spare time.
Eventually, Tiafoe moved to Florida to play at the USTA National Training Center while Franklin stayed in Maryland and attended DeMatha. Frances made his ATP Tour debut at 16.
The 28-year-old’s semifinal run matches the longest of his career. Tiafoe has never won a Grand Slam event, but has made the U.S. Open semifinals twice before, his deepest runs at any major.
Andy Roddick was the last American man to win the U.S. Open, in 2003. Roddick reached the men’s final again in 2006, but no American repeated that feat until 2024, when Taylor Fritz beat Tiafoe in the semi before falling to champion Jannik Sinner.
According to ESPN, the winner of Shelton and Tiafoe’s semifinal will also be the first Black American to reach the U.S. Open men’s final since Arthur Ashe in 1972 and the first to reach any major final since MaliVai Washington in 1996 at Wimbledon.
But Tiafoe likely won’t be the only beloved D.C. sports figure at Flushing Meadows on Friday: Trinity Rodman, Shelton’s girlfriend, can often be found in the crowd at his matches.
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