By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday March 24, 2025
Arthur Fils capped a wild battle with Frances Tiafoe by running away with the last five games.
Photo Source: TTV
It was one of those matches that gives clear indication of what kind of character the winner has. Not to say anything bad about the loser – character was displayed by both – but Monday was Arthur Fils’ day in Miami.
The 20-year-old, saddled at times by an elbow injury and cramps, managed to save six set points in a wild opening set, but it wasn’t enough. After he squandered a pair of match points late in the second, he had to rally himself and push through the fatigue to defeat Frances Tiafoe in three.
He did just that, coming through an absorbing 7-6(11), 5-7, 6-2 victory in two hours and 57 minutes to book a round of 16 clash with top-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Nothing was decided after two sets, and Fils needed to drill down to find something he didn’t know he had. He took risk and found great reward in the final set, reeling off the final five games after falling behind by a break.
“It was very tough. When I got into the third set, I was cramping and I couldn’t find the rhythm anymore,” Fils said after the win. “My serve was tough and I couldn’t jump, so I tried to relax and play as fast as I could and hit as strong as I could. Somehow it worked.
“It’s not going to work every day, that’s for sure. Maybe once or twice out of ten it’s going to work, and today it worked. I’m very happy about it, but Frances is a hell of a champion. It’s the first time we have played, and I hope we are going to have many more great battles.”
With the win, Fils moves ahead of Tiafoe in the ATP live rankings, to No.16 – he is now 11-5 in his last 16 matches against Top-20 players, and the first Frenchman to reach the round of 16 at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season since 2018.
Fonseca Stopped by Demon
18-year-old sensation Joao Fonseca saw his debut run at the Miami Open come to an end at the hands of Alex de Minaur, but not without a fight. The Brazilian had the crowd at full throat for every second of his scorching encounter with the Aussie, but he ended up running out of steam against the indefatigable De Minaur.
De Minaur, seeded tenth, rallied for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory and a date with Matteo Berrettini in the round of 16.
It was a quintessential effort from De Minaur, who never became perturbed by the sonic wall that the passionate Brazilian fans brought to the encounter. Instead he dug deep and found ways to make the teenager hit more balls. It was De Minaur’s ability to make the match a physical encounter that eventually let him get the best of the powerhouse in the final two sets.
It could have gone the other way. Fonseca had numerous break points to go ahead in the second set, but when they went unconverted it was De Minaur who struck to claim the set with a break in the 12th game.
Fonseca again had the break in the third set, but De Minaur took six of the final seven games to pull away.