NEW YORK _ Welcome to the French Open.
Three French players, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille, had the opportunity to reach the men's quarterfinals at the U.S. Open on Sunday and all got to their destination in style, none more spectacularly than the youngster, Pouille, who beat No. 4-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
Pouille was down a service break in the fifth set, gamely fought back to draw even and squandered three match points in the decisive tiebreaker before winning it on his fourth, firing a brave forehand crosscourt winner, beating Nadal, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6), in the fourth round in 4 hours 7 minutes.
He rolled on his back in celebration and later talked about his rush of emotion, having played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court for the first time.
"I couldn't dream better than this," Pouille said in his on-court TV interview.
He has won three consecutive five-set matches. This is the first time three French players have made the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event since the 1947 French Open. Earlier, No. 10 Monfils beat Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, and No. 9 Tsonga eliminated the final American on the men's side, Jack Sock, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2.
Nadal-Pouille hoarded the drama, however.
A gutted Nadal trudged off the court, but, true to his class, he signed some autographs on the way out. The tiebreaker in a decisive set has not been kind to him this summer in events close to his heart. Nadal lost to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the semifinals at the Olympics in Rio, leaving it all out there in a third-set tiebreaker.
Pouille, 22, is far less experienced than the likes of del Potro, who won the U.S. Open in 2009, but has the youthful, go-for-broke mentality working for him.
"He started so strong," Nadal said. "I fight until the end ... . It was a very close match, anything can happen."
