Frances Tiafoe saves two match points to take out defending champion Jakub Mensik in Miami

Frances Tiafoe has battled past Jakub Mensik in an absolute thriller at the Miami Open, saving two match points to take out the defending champion in the third round of the Masters 1000 event, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (11).

It was also the milestone 250th win of the American’s career.

"I'm pretty pumped, pretty pumped," Tiafoe said afterwards. "I've put in a lot of work to win matches like these, to be able to hang tough, and be tough, and to be able to play great tennis three hours in. He was hurting, I was hurting. Day match is never easy here in Miami, but great stuff man.

"It was one of those matches where even if you go down, it's one of those things where it's hard to say that someone lost today."

Mensik had won the pair’s only previous meeting in Davis Cup action last year, 6-1, 6-4, but Tiafoe looked dialed in from the start this time, staying on serve with him throughout the first 12 games then storming out to a 4-0 lead in the tie-break en route to taking the 54-minute first set.

The two continued to trade holds throughout the second set until the ninth game, where Mensik eventually broke for 5-4—which would turn out to be the only break of the entire match—and served the set out to love.

After another 12 holds without a single break point it all came down to a third set tie-break, and what a tie-break it turned out to be, as Tiafoe fought off two match points—one down 8-7, and another one down 10-9—and eventually needed seven match points of his own to finally seal a two-hour, 51-minute victory after Mensik fired a backhand return wide.

“Just keep going, just keep going,” Tiafoe said of the match points.

“What’s done is done. Just try to be as present as you can. There’s peace in the presence. What’s in front of you is relevant, and what’s behind you is definitely irrelevant. That’s kind of where I was at with it today.”

Tiafoe is now just the seventh man born in 1998 or later—and the first American man born in 1998 or later—to record 250 career wins.

MOST CAREER WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):

• 378: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]
• 335: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001] (playing tonight)
• 317: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]
• 304: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]
• 297: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
• 280: Felix Auger-Aliassime [born in 2000]
• 250: Frances Tiafoe [born in 1998]

Awaiting the No. 19-seeded Tiafoe in the fourth round in Miami will be unseeded Frenchman Terence Atmane, who took out No. 7-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime earlier in the day on Monday, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Tiafoe won the pair's only previous meeting in the first round of Dallas earlier this year on indoor hard courts, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.