Frances Tiafoe took revenge for her defeat to Ben Shelton at last year’s US Open by beating the world No. 13 seed in a five-set American thriller to reach the fourth round.

The two, who are good friends, faced each other in the quarterfinals last year in New York, with Shelton emerging as the winner.

But it was the lower-ranked Tiafoe who won on Friday, twice coming from behind to triumph 4-6 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 after more than four entertaining hours at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Ben is an incredible player, he really is. He goes for all kinds of shots, he doesn’t care about it. It’s really annoying,” said the 20th-ranked Tiafoe.

Tiafoe’s reward is a potential meeting with reigning champion Novak Djokovic, who will look to capture his 25th Grand Slam singles title when he takes on Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Earlier, Russian Andrey Rublev became the first male singles player to reach the fourth round, with a convincing win over Czech Jiri Lehecka.

The sixth-seeded player was down two sets in the final round against Arthur Rinderknech, but he made it easier for Lehecka, winning 6-3 7-5 6-4 in just over two hours.

Rublev, who has reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam 10 times and has yet to win a major, will face Grigor Dimitrov after the Bulgarian ninth-seeded player secured a convincing 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

Meanwhile, 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz continued his perfect run in New York with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over Argentine Francisco Comesana.

Fritz, who has not yet lost a set, will face Norwegian Casper Ruud, a finalist in 2022, or Chinese Shang Juncheng in the fourth round.