Can Frances Tiafoe win his house event to seize his third tour-level title of the season?
The second seed made a profitable begin to his Mubadala Citi DC Open marketing campaign when he defeated Aslan Karatsev 7-6(5), 7-6(5) on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Tiafoe, who has claimed titles in Houston and Stuttgart this yr, thrilled the house crowd together with his shotmaking potential all through the two-hour, nine-minute contest and absorbed Karatsev’s firepower to advance on the ATP 500 occasion.
“Unbelievable match tonight. It was so tight all over, he actually made me earn it,” Tiafoe stated in his on-court interview. “I am simply glad to get via. He is a tricky participant, he is made the semis of a Grand Slam and he is very, very harmful. Very powerful first spherical.”
Enjoying in his first match since Wimbledon, Tiafoe fought off a set level on serve at 5-4 within the second set to keep away from going the gap and later within the tie-break, he gained 4 consecutive factors after falling behind 3/5.
With NBA celebrity Kevin Durant in attendance, Tiafoe earned his second Lexus ATPHead2Head win towards Karatsev to set a first-time assembly towards 18-year-old Chinese language star Shang Juncheng within the second spherical. In his seventh look in Washington, World No. 10 Tiafoe’s greatest end result on the hard-court event got here final yr, when he made the quarter-finals earlier than falling to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios.
Kevin Durant attends Tuesday’s night session on the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Credit score: Ben Solomon
Earlier within the day, Michael Mmoh saved three match factors to upset fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(4). Regardless of having a match level of his personal on return at 6-5 within the second set, Mmoh was pushed to a decider earlier than closing the thrilling two-hour, 55-minute battle.
The American traded blows from the baseline with the World No. 17 and produced a spotlight reel of winners to earn his third Prime 20 win of the season. Hurkacz will rue letting slip three match factors, one in all which got here after profitable a gruelling 38-shot rally at deuce. All three of the Pole’s match factors got here on return at 5-4 within the third set, however Mmoh held his nerve and continued to play aggressive to flee.
Australian Jordan Thompson ousted wild card Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-1 after profitable 56 per cent of factors behind his second serve, in comparison with the South African’s 40 per cent. Anderson, 37, was enjoying simply his second event since coming back from retirement in July. Emil Ruusuvuori produced a clean-hitting efficiency to rally previous final yr’s finalist Yoshihito Nishioka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 after two hours, seven minutes.
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