UNITED STATES TENNIS OPEN

Two days after he stunned No. 2 seed, 22-Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, and many hours after he swept past 9th-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia in three sets, 22nd-ranked Frances Tiafoe was watching television in Thursday’s wee small hours of the morning at Flushing Meadows.

The red-hot 24-year-old Tiafoe had won his United States Open tennis quarterfinals match early Wednesday, and when the clock struck 3:30 in the morning the next day he was watching the 5-hour, 28-minute men’s quarterfinals between 3rd-ranked, 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and 11th-ranked, 22-year-old Jannik Sinner of Italy.

“Two great players out there,” said Tiafoe, a Black American from Florida, “and this is an unbelievable match out there. I’ll watch it til the end, get some more sleep, and then prepare for Friday’s semifinals against the winner of this marathon.”

Rain was falling outside but the retractable roof was down and everyone stayed dry as play went on. It was late, well into the night and the next morning, but no one was leaving. At least there wouldn’t be much traffic when they did depart and hit the road.

It looked for awhile that Alcaraz cooled off after claiming the first set at 6-4. In the next two sets that he lost 7-5 and 7-5, he came close to winning both but his unforced errors were costly and Sinner was making the big shots.

The Rolex clock was showing the time and the huge turnout behaved like it didn’t matter. There were the Italians shouting out for Sinner along with his coaches, family and trainers. There were the Spanish just as loud for Alcaraz along with coaches, family and trainers.

But Sinner was cruising along, and with each point he would show his raised fist towards the box where his coaches sat. In the fourth set, though, Alcaraz knew he had to go for it, win this one and maybe even the match in five long sets.

“I was starting to drive my shots past him and making better returns of his serve,” said Alcaraz. “and when I hung around by winning the set, I was more prepared than before, and broke him at match point.”

That, too, resulted in a 7-5 score, and in the deciding set, he again won at 6-4. Sinner was stunned, couldn’t believe he had played so well and lost because his opponent turned it up when it counted most.

Now Alcaraz gets Tiafoe, who continued unbeaten in tiebreakers, now at 6-0 after rallying to take the first tiebreaker behind a 130 mph ace, then strutting to the changeover, nodding and motioning with his racket for more noise, and he no doubt had the crowd behind him.

Andy Roddick was in the stands to watch the quarters and Tiafoe became the first U.S. player to get to the semis in New York since Roddick did, losing to Roger Federer for the title 16 years ago, but then became the last American to win any Grand Slam singles championships in the 2003 Open.

None of the men left in the bracket had ever won a major trophy. It will be Tiafoe’s career first time in a Grand Slam semis, and the first for Alcarez, who at 19 is the youngest to get that far since Roddick, who in 2003 had just turned 19.

Tiafoe was having a grand old time. When he produced a backhand return winner to seal a two-set lead, he sprinted to the sidelines, sat down near his messy collection of towels, shirts and socks spread out around the ground and shook his fist amid the delirium of a standing ovation.

“I sure do play great tiebreakers,” he said, “some laughable, and you can’t make that up.”

And you sure can’t make up whatever he has so far accomplished. His present ranking will probably make it into the top 10 after this.

As for the length of the Alcaraz-Sinner marathon, it was the second longest of any Grand Slam singles. The time of the match was also the second latest of any Grand Slam singles.