Frances Tiafoe is through to the second round of the US Open after grinding out a five-set win over fellow American Martin Damm, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in a marathon that kept Louis Armstrong Stadium occupied for close to four hours.
The Maryland native and No. 11 seed had to work for every bit of it. Damm, at 6-foot-8, leaned on his serve throughout the night and took the second and third sets to flip a match Tiafoe had led early. Tiafoe steadied himself from there, closing out the fourth and fifth sets to escape with the win and improve to 2-0 in his career series against Damm — both meetings, coincidentally, have now gone the distance at this exact tournament.
Tiafoe didn't downplay how demanding the night had been. "It was a crazy match. He has such a good serve," he said in an on-court interview afterward. "The last two sets I just wanted to be tough. If I could get one break and take care of my serve, I was still in it." He also thanked the crowd for sticking around deep into the night. "Appreciate you all staying so late and cheering for me." Asked about the stakes of a long first-round battle like this one, he put it plainly: "You can't win the tournament in the first round, but you can for sure lose it, so happy at the end of the day."
The win marks Tiafoe's 38th of the season and comes less than two weeks removed from his runner-up finish at the Cincinnati Open, where he fell to Arthur Fils in the final. As BSF previewed, Tiafoe entered the tournament dealing with a minor hip issue from that Cincinnati run, along with a wrist injury that had bothered him earlier in the summer, including at his hometown DC Open. None of it appeared to slow him down over four sets of a battle against a big-serving opponent.
Tiafoe will look to build on the win as he continues his pursuit of a first Grand Slam title — a two-time US Open semifinalist already, he remains one of the faces of an American men's field still chasing its first major champion since 2003.