Frances Tiafoe caused the biggest upset of the men’s draw by beating Kevin Anderson. (Source: AP)Not long after stunning the Wimbledon finalist and fifth seed Kevin Anderson, not so surprisingly, American Frances Tiafoe was in a jubilant mood on Day 3 of the Australian Open. His 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 second-round win over Anderson would arguably be his biggest win. And his celebration said it all – although there was a hiccup.
Tiafoe, who beat Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the first round, started screaming “C’mon,” and took his left fist and started to pound on the muscle on his right arm in a display meant to accentuate just how strong he is. The only issue thereafter, however, was that his jubilant display was that his necklace tangled into the button of his polo shirt. As it turned out a ball boy, clearly a pro at untangling earphone wires, skillfully released the necklace.
“It means the world to me,” Tiafoe told the crowd after beating the South African. “I lost to Kevin three times last year. I was down a set-and-a-break today and it looks like he was getting the fourth. I just went to a different place. I dug deep. It’s just how bad you want it and I wanted it bad.”
Frances Tiafoe’s necklace did him dirty again, always gotta show out💀 pic.twitter.com/7vZZFgFbLO
— TroubleFault (@troublefault) 16 January 2019
Anderson took a medical time-out mid-way through the four-set match before becoming the highest ranked player to be ousted from the first major of the year. “These are the matches where they kind of define you and help you feel more and more comfortable to keep winning matches like that,” Tiafoe said.
He will play Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the third round, which will at least equal his best performance at a Grand Slam, having made the third round of Wimbledon last year.
