By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Saturday, August 3, 2024
Frances Tiafoe booked his place into the DC semifinals for the first time with a straight sets win over top seed Andrey Rublev. Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/Mubadala Citi DC Open
Hometown hero Frances Tiafoe delighted the local fans by reaching his first ever Washington, DC semifinal with a straight sets win.
MORE: Shapovalov Disqualified in DC QF with Shelton
The fifth-seed Tiafoe knocked out top seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6(3) at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in their Friday night quarterfinal to reach the final four at his home event for the first time.
"It's big,” said an elated Tiafoe after the match. “Obviously I've wanted to do that for a very long time, get in the weekend, get into the business end of the tournament. It's a great thing I broke that streak.
"Obviously I want more. I'm not really that ecstatic about it. I'm just happy I get another win here and another win in general. Every win right now is big for me. Kind of building me to go the right way. This is really good.”
With stellar shotmaking, and fueled by the vocal home crowd, Tiafoe took the opening set 6-4. Yet he found himself in a deep hole in the second set when he went down an early break.
Rublev opened up a 4-1 lead and looked poised to force things into a decider. Yet Tiafoe fought back. After holding serve in the next game at 2-4, Tiafoe found himself with a break point against Rublev in the next game. Tiafoe then won a lung busting 20-plus shot baseline rally that ended with Rublev netting a backhand.
The crowd roared and jumped it to their feet as Tiafoe found himself back on serve. That proved the turning point as Tiafoe leveled at 4-all later. Eventually a tiebreak was needed. Tiafoe jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
On match point, Tiafoe drew a final error from his opponent to secure the late night victory for his first top ten win of the season.
Tiafoe will next face fellow American Sebastian Korda in the semifinals. The No. 4 seed Korda earlier beat No. 7 Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-2.
The second semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Ben Shelton against Italian and No. 10 seed Flavio Cobolli. Shelton advanced earlier over Canada's Denis Shapovalov after Shapovalov was defaulted due to a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct over a rowdy fan.
Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/Mubadala Citi DC Open