Frances Tiafoe was part of an epic quarter-final day at the US Open, which saw play on Arthur Ashe Stadium start at 11.30am on Tuesday and finish around 16 hours later at 3.33am on Wednesday. The No. 11 seed came back from two sets and 3-5 down to beat countryman Alex Michelsen 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6(6) in the second match of the day session, sealing victory when the night session should have started.

The second men’s quarter-final also went the distance, with Ben Shelton beating defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a final-set match tiebreak, too. And the two thrilling five-set matches were played just days after Andrew Abdo, the new Tennis Australia chief, suggested that best-of-five set matches could be cut back at Grand Slam tournaments

Maybe in the future Slams at the different rounds or at different lengths of duration, maybe we’re not playing best of 5 all the way through, maybe the point scoring system changes,” he said while speaking at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne.

“Maybe there are different permutations to how we engage and entertain audiences without losing the fabric, and what really makes the sport special.”

There has long been a debate about best-of-five-set tennis and whether matches need to be shortened. But Abdo’s suggestions have, naturally, sparked some backlash from those who believe they are part of the history and charm of Grand Slam tournaments.

And Tiafoe has become the latest player to come out in defence of five-setters at the Majors, following his heroic comeback against Michelsen in Flushing Meadows. “100 per cent, I think for the men’s we should stick with three out of five,” the US Open semi-finalist said.

“I don’t know where the conversation is going, what people are leaning to. Everyone is going to have an opinion. Everyone is different. Everyone has their opinion.

We’ve seen so many epics in five-setters. Do I love five-setters? Absolutely not. There’s a lot of times where I’m up two sets to love, I would love to shake hands and go home. But it’s tennis, man.”

While Tiafoe hasn’t always favoured a five-set match when he’s been the one in the lead, the 28-year-old has claimed that Grand Slam titles wouldn’t mean as much if the men had to play best-of-three sets.

He added: “I grew up watching so many incredible five-setters. Novak-Rafa, Federer-Rafa, epic five-setters that go on for hours and hours. That’s the history of the game. You do that, I feel like your Slam doesn’t mean as much personally if you get it done in a two-out-of-three format.”

Tiafoe will now face Ben Shelton for a place in a maiden Grand Slam final on home soil at the US Open. Both men have already survived five-set nail-biters, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they went the distance in Friday’s semi-final. But for the No. 11 seed, it will mean more if he can keep winning over the three-of-five-set format.