Frances Tiafoe is getting the rematch he wants, a second shot at Ben Shelton at the US Open.
Tiafoe had short work on the steamiest day of the tournament, advancing to the third round when his opponent, Alexander Shevchenko, retired after the first game of the third set, one of two men's matches in which a player stopped Wednesday in New York.
Tiafoe, who reached the US Open semifinals in 2022, was in complete control when Shevchenko, who had the trainer out after the second set, suddenly called it a day with Tiafoe leading 6-4, 6-1, 1-0.
"Happy to get it done. Hate to win it that way, but overall, I thought I actually played pretty well today," the 20th-seeded Tiafoe said after a stress-free victory during which he changed shirts five times.
Tiafoe has now won 11 of his past 15 matches since bringing on David Witt as his coach in Atlanta, highlighted by a run to his first Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati. Before that, Tiafoe had a 15-15 record at the tour level this season through Wimbledon.
Up next for Tiafoe is a rematch of last year's quarterfinal with Shelton, the No. 13 seed who closed out the day session on the Grandstand court with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista Agut.
Shelton eliminated Tiafoe in straight sets a year ago and promised a "popcorn-type match" when the two meet again.
"Obviously, he's very much like me in how excited and energetic he is on the court," the 26-year-old Tiafoe said of Shelton, "and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going."
Well, maybe not quite as well as Tiafoe does.
"I know that the people love him here. Probably more than me. He's electric here, and his crowds are electric here," the 21-year-old Shelton said of Tiafoe.
"It will be a battle. It will be a war just like the last two times we've played. Yeah, I'm more than excited to be out there with him again."
They were two of the four American men to reach the third round in the bottom half of the draw. No. 12 Taylor Fritz got there by beating Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1, while Brandon Nakashima beat Arthur Cazaux and will next play No. 18 Lorenzo Musetti, the bronze medalist at the Olympics.
In other men's singles results from Wednesday, Alexander Zverev dispatched Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on a sweltering Louis Armstrong Stadium court.
Zverev is now one win shy of 100 career major match wins and is inching closer toward joining Boris Becker (163) and Tommy Haas (105) as the only German men to win 100 or more major matches.
The big-serving fourth seed blasted 15 aces and employed a drop-shot finesse at the net to preserve his hopes of capturing a career-first major after a runner-up finish at Roland Garros.
"I know that the people love him here. Probably more than me. He's electric here, and his crowds are electric here. It will be a battle. It will be a war just like the last two times we've played."Ben Shelton on facing Frances Tiafoe in US Open third round
Zverev proved too much for world No. 77 Muller, who committed 41 unforced errors and battled through an apparent leg injury in brutal temperatures and high humidity at Flushing Meadows.
Zverev closed out the match with a final ace to set up a third-round meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who vomited amid the stifling conditions but got past fellow Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Zverev said he was pleased to get through in three sets given the "very hot, very humid" conditions.
"I was at some point very, very wet. The whole court was flooded from me," Zverev said. "But I felt good physically."
Another men's third-round matchup will have No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the US Open semifinals in 2019, against Tallon Griekspoor. Dimitrov swept past Rinky Hijikata, while Griekspoor advanced when No. 21 seed Sebastian Baez stopped playing in the second set of their match.
Unseeded Francisco Comesana came from a set down to upset 17th-seeded Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
With temperatures surpassing 90 degrees, the extreme weather policy was in effect Wednesday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, meaning players are allowed a 10-minute break between the third and fourth sets if either player requests one.
Second-round opponents Andrey Rublev and Arthur Rinderknech wrapped themselves in ice towels during the changeovers, and Rinderknech fell to the court from exhaustion after a 37-shot rally. The match was briefly halted in the second set when a spectator required medical attention.
The No. 6 seed Rublev, who entering Wednesday was 1-19 after dropping the first two sets in best-of-five matches, completed the second two-set comeback of his career with a 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win.
Jiri Lehecka ignored the heat to engineer the biggest comeback of his career, rallying to beat Mitchell Krueger 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a match that finished a minute shy of four hours. Lehecka, the No. 32 seed, not only came from two sets down for the first time in his career, but he was even down 3-0 in the third set against the American qualifier.
"I kind of dug back into the match with a big fight, and then the fourth set and fifth set was just a battle and we were both fighting for every point," Lehecka said.
ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.