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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday January 8, 2020

 
Frances Tiafoe

2018 Delray Beach Open champion Frances Tiafoe stopped Donald Young in straight sets on Friday at Delray Beach.

Photo Source: Mark Peterson / Corleve

Big Foe is out of the blocks at the Delray Beach Open.

22-year-old American and 2018 champion Frances Tiafoe opened up his 2021 season with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Donald Young to set up a second-rounder with compatriot Bjorn Fratangelo.

Tennis Express

Tiafoe broke Young four times and was only broken once. He managed to finish off the 31-year-old in straight sets by breaking in the final game of the match. Tiafoe played the point of the contest with Young serving at 4-5 in the second set and then clinched the victory when Young tossed in a double-fault moments later.

Tiafoe says he wasn’t pleased with his overall performance but was happy to get the win. He spoke on court after the match about keeping his focus and talked about the strides he has made over the last year.

“I think I grew up a lot as an individual this last year,” he said. “I had a lot of time to think, obviously five months with everything that was going on when Covid first hit, and thinking how I wanted to be once the break ended and tennis came back again. Why I was ranked where I was ranked - I know I’m a much better player than that. Sometimes it’s a matter of looking in the mirror [and thinking] how can you improve?”

Tiafoe, who won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award from the ATP Tour this winter, recently penned a letter entitled “My Letter to Arthur Ashe.”

In it, Tiafoe addresses the American legend, who passed away in 1993, with inspired words.

“It does not matter who you are, where you come from or what the color of your skin is,” Tiafoe wrote. “Everybody has the opportunity to be something special. I was one of those kids who did not have a great chance of making it this far. Winning this award is just a reminder that now that I’m here, I need to pay it forward and help the next generation.”

Tiafoe won 64 percent of his second-serve points and 63 percent of his second-serve return points during the one hour and 16 minute match to keep Young at bay.

Karlovic Cracks a Milestone

Everytime Ivo Karlovic plays a match there is a chance that the 41-year-old will make history and that was the case on Friday as the 6’11” Croatian toppled Pablo Andujar—thanks to 27 aces—to book a place in the second round.

With the win Karlovic becomes the oldest player to win an ATP match since 1995 when Jimmy Connors won a match in Halle at the age of 42.

"It's true almost every match that I win, now at my age, it is history,” Karlovic told the crowd on court after the triumph.

 

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