Tiafoe, the 24-year-old from Maryland who is seeded 22nd at Flushing Meadows, reached the second major quarter-final of his career on Monday with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 in three hours 34 minutes.
He is the youngest American man to get that far in New York since Andy Roddick in 2006, but this was not a case of a one-sided crowd backing one of its own. Nadal is about as popular as it gets in tennis and heard plenty of support in Arthur Ashe Stadium as the volume raised after the retractable roof was shut in the fourth set.
Nadal won the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. Then he made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July before withdrawing from that tournament because of a torn abdominal muscle.
Tiafoe will face ninth seed Andrey Rublev in the last eight after the Russian scored a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over seventh-seeded Brit Cameron Norrie.
It’s great news for Australian contender Nick Kyrgios but he needs nothing less than a US Open title to secure a place in the world’s top 10, a cruel scenario that supports his assertion that “rankings don’t matter”.
Kyrgios has been the hottest player on tour over the past three months, adding a seventh career title to his collection and reaching two finals, three semi-finals and two quarters from his past nine events.
His gripping Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic is among the 27-year-old’s only three defeats from his last 23 matches.
Yet not even a second victory over world No.1 Daniil Medvedev in little more than three weeks will be enough to earn Kyrgios a career-high ranking above No.13, which he hit in October 2016, let alone a coveted spot in the top 10.
Unless the mercurial talent goes on to claim his maiden grand slam crown in New York.
Kyrgios would have returned to the top 15 in July had ATP Tour officials not stripped Wimbledon of rankings-points status in objection to the All England Club’s banning of Russian and Belarusian players.
“The ranking system doesn’t reward skill and form, to be honest, over a certain period of time,” the world No.25 said ahead of a last-eight showdown with another Russian 27th seed Karen Khachanov on Tuesday (11am Wednesday AEST).
(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
“It definitely rewards consistency, more so. I’ve played 12 events. Some of the people in front of me have played 32.
“Obviously it’s almost impossible for me to be higher ranked unless I’m going deep like this in tournaments. The rankings for me doesn’t really matter.
“I feel like tonight was another message that rankings don’t matter.
“I see No.1 (seed) next to his name and I see 23 next to mine. That doesn’t change anything for me. I don’t care whether I’m seeded or not.
“The rankings, I mean, I don’t think they mean anything.”
Nick Kyrgios of Australia reacts against Daniil Medvedev at the US Open. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Kyrgios, currently projected to climb to No.18 in the rankings following his run to the US Open quarter-finals, bumped Medvedev off top spot with his scintillating fourth-round win over the Russian.
Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud have been locked in a three-way battle for the top ranking.
Nadal’s shock fourth-round exit at the hands of American Frances Tiafoe leaves Alcaraz and Ruud in contention to take over as No.1 for the first time.
Novak Djokovic, runner-up to Medvedev in last year’s championship decider, is presently projected to remain at No.7 at the conclusion of the year’s last major.
But the longest-serving world No.1 in history could conceivably tumble out of the top 10 after missing the Open because he’s not vaccinated.