Having endured an inconsistent season across all surfaces, 2022 US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe will hope he’s peaking at the right time of this calendar year on home soil after recovering from a set down to reach his first Masters 1000 final – where he’ll play world number one Jannik Sinner tonight, after a similarly gutsy win over the distance against Alexander Zverev.
What better time than now?
Jannik Sinner [1] vs. Frances Tiafoe
Cincinnati final tonight, play not before 11pm BST (6pm EST)
Tiafoe up to #20 in live rankings, will go #17 with Masters 1000 title
PERHAPS it’s just fate, but Frances Tiafoe backed up his 200th career win with another milestone triumph over three sets (4-6, 6-1, 7-6) against Holger Rune to punch his ticket into tonight’s Cincinnati final, where he’ll play Jannik Sinner.
Just over half the 26-year-old’s winners were serves (13 of 25) and that weapon worked well, giving him free points against a talented but error-prone Rune display during their first-ever H2H meeting as the pendulum swung one way, then the next.
Having raced to level the scores at one set apiece, Tiafoe quickly found himself in a 3-0 hole and needed to save two match points, down 5-4 in the decider, as Rune’s unpredictable tendencies came to the fore in high-pressure moments. A net cord helped him over the line as Rune rued his lack of luck, though couldn’t complain.
How did he reach the final?
Poland’s big-serving Hubert Hurkacz, a few weeks removed from meniscus surgery, looked hampered with his movement early on and retired after losing the first set 6-3 to Tiafoe in the previous round.
The world no. 7 had already been involved in three-set battles against Yoshihito Nishioka and Italy’s rising talent Flavio Cobolli earlier in the week before citing a calf injury as the reason he couldn’t continue. Sinner scored a similarly gutsy deciding set win over Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, as his hip injury remains a worry.
Tiafoe needed half-a-dozen match points to seal it and played over an hour longer than he would’ve liked, but eventually emerged into the tournament’s last-eight after a grinding three-set tussle with returning Czech talent Jiri Lehecka (6-4, 6-7, 7-6).
Lehecka, sidelined since May with a troublesome back injury, made his competitive return here and produced an excellent display to oust Daniil Medvedev in the previous round. While his ball-striking is fiery and serve deceptively big, the youngster’s game also lends itself to unforced errors aplenty when not in rhythm.
Tiafoe could’ve sealed the job in straight-sets but the exciting American, prone to his own concentration lapses and drastic drop-offs at times, found himself routinely frustrated at clutch moments as Lehecka’s forehand found its mark. He composed himself after losing set two in a tightly-contested tiebreak and got the job done.
Beforehand, he logged impressive straight-set wins over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (6-3, 7-6) and 2024 Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti (6-3, 6-2) to quickly banish any bad feeling lingering after an early exit in Montreal last week – serving poorly with erratic execution during a 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
Sinner won’t afford him the same chances Rune did – playing through injury or not – so Tiafoe needs to start fast and maintain that high standard if he’s to be successful in a final no-one would’ve predicted he would reach. That’s just how he likes it.
Elsewhere, the Draper of it all
- Ouch: Having missed the Olympics with a forearm injury, Cameron Norrie withdrew from the US Open last week and that news means Jack Draper and Dan Evans are the only British players currently in the main draw
- Brit watch: Liam Broady and Wimbledon standout Jacob Fearnley – who took a set off Novak Djokovic in R2 – both beaten in US Open qualifying
- Billy Harris, Oliver Crawford and Jan Choinski all set to feature in first-round qualies tomorrow, while Draper’s close friend Paul Jubb will face Finland’s Otto Virtanen on Wednesday after toppling Fearnley 6-1, 7-6
British number one Jack Draper has risen to a new career-high world no. 25 and should benefit from better US Open seeding after reaching his second career Masters 1000 quarterfinal, even if the achievement didn’t come without controversy – on match point no less – during a three-set comeback win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The 22-year-old was wrongfully adjudged to have hit a volley winner by chair umpire Greg Allensworth after Auger-Aliassime fired an excellent return at his feet, though replays showed the ball had hit the ground after Draper got his racquet on the attempt, which crawled over the net. He should’ve lost the point there.
Instead though a five-minute discussion soon began, the tournament referee called, and while Draper insisted he was happy replaying the point if proven wrong as Felix looked in disbelief, the umpire’s split-second call in the moment was made final.
We will never know what might’ve happened had the right call stood and this final game gone to deuce. Auger-Aliassime conjured up a line-kissing forehand winner to save the first match point moments earlier and for a sport eager to attract new audiences, these dramatic instances draw attention but reflect poorly.
As I’ve covered already this year, the sport dearly needs to introduce video replay if embarrassing scenes like this and last week’s Toronto incident involving Taylor Fritz are to become a distant memory. While expecting every tournament worldwide to implement this is unsustainable, the bigger events should have a trickle-down effect.
Picture source: Getty Images
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