AMERICAN Frances Tiafoe edged closer towards his dream of winning a home Grand Slam after defeating red-hot Aussie Alexei Popyrin in the fourth round of the US Open overnight. The 20th fought past an opponent who knocked off world number two Novak Djokovic two days earlier, and has a host of Top 20 wins in the past month.

Tiafoe won 6-4 7-6 2-6 6-3 in three hours and two minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the local hope admitted it was a dream come true.

“I always dreamt about playing on this court [since I was] a kid. I used to hit against the wall and wanted to compete on this court,” Tiafoe said post-match “Seeing the Williams sisters win titles here, seeing Roger win here a million times, I was like ‘I just want to play on this court’. It’s so iconic, obviously named after Arthur Ashe, so I wanted to be a part of that. I think it brings out the best of me.”

Tiafoe weathered a storm of 24 aces off Popyrin’s racquet throughout the match, while producing 14 himself, but also only the one double fault to the Australian’s nine. He was incredibly efficient with his play, hitting eight less unforced errors (20-28), and only the 11 less winners, which taking out aces is just one less than his opponent.

In total he won three more points for the match (120-117) showing nothing between the pair, with the player who produces his best tennis at the major winning over one of the most in-form players on Tour. The 20th seed was able to win 57 per cent of his second serve points and 34 per cent of his total receiving points to pip the Aussie in those areas.

Popyrin had the opportunity to serve out the set in the 10th game and was on the verge of doing so, before Tiafoe explained in the only way he could how he felt, and how he managed to get back into the contest.

“He was serving 5-3, 40/0. I was like, ‘Well I’m pretty sweaty, I’m sweating through my shoes. I’m about to go and change and try to win this thing in four’,” Tiafoe said. “I won a point, won another point. I was like, ‘Ooh’. He gave me one. I was like, ‘Don’t let me get two’. And then I was like, ‘Don’t let me get three’. And then I was like, ‘I might as well break now’. I got pretty lucky there, honestly.”

He would go on to win the set in a tiebreaker 7-3, and though the Australian would be too strong in the third set, Tiafoe found his mojo in the fourth to close it out and move to within one win of reaching his career-best effort of a semi-final.

Next up will be Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov who looked on track to continue his straight sets procession at Flushing Meadows when 6-3 7-6 up against sixth seed Andrey Rublev. However the Russian was able to make life far more difficult for his fellow Top 10 opponent, winning the next two sets to force a decider. Dimitrov got back on top just in time, to close out the match 6-3 7-6 1-6 3-6 6-3 in three hours and 39 minutes.

AROUND THE COURTS

In the other two fourth round matches both played on Louis Armstrong Stadium, it was a mixed bag for the United States representatives. Top ranked American Taylor Fritz moved through to the last eight with a come-from-behind victory over eighth seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud in two hours and 43 minutes. Fritz won 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-2, hitting a whopping 56 winners including 24 aces to essentially blow Ruud off the court in the last three sets.

He will now take on a player who will be a little more difficult to blow off the court, in former US Open finalist Alexander Zverev. The German fourth seed also came from behind, ending the run of in-form American Brandon Nakashima with a near-perfect last three sets to produced a 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory in two hours and 36 minutes. He served 14 aces among 51 winners to Nakashima’s six from 18 to reach another US Open quarter final.