Two Wins In One Day: Tiafoe Into Houston SFs

American Frances Tiafoe completed double duty Saturday to reach the Houston semi-finals.

Two-and-a-half hours after his second-round 6-2, 6-4 victory against Steve Johnson, the top-seeded Tiafoe returned to court and ousted Australian Jason Kubler 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals at the Fayez Sarofim & Co U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.

“I haven’t played two matches in one day in a long time,” Tiafoe said. “I thought it was unbelievable how I was able to come out here and play so well.

“The ball was going much [faster], it was much warmer [than earlier], I was sweating a lot more. Obviously a totally different player. [Jason] has been playing well, he’s played a lot lately, so I knew he was going to come after me. It was a good match.”

The World No. 15 delivered a strong serving performance, winning 28 of 31 points off his first delivery to down sixth seed Kubler in one hour, 28 minutes. Tiafoe will next meet Houston-born Gijs Brouwer in the last four.

In his first tour-level event as the top seed, Tiafoe is eyeing his second title (Delray Beach, 2018). Should the 25-year-old win the ATP 250 crown, he would rise to a career-high No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Brouwer, 27, held a 6-4, 5-6 lead on John Isner before play was suspended Thursday, but the Dutchman put the finishing touches on Saturday to down the fourth seed 6-4, 7-6(4). Brouwer then continued his strong run by upsetting fifth seed J.J. Wolf 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his first tour-level semi-final. Should the lefty reach the Houston final, he would crack the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings for the first time.

After rain cancelled much of play the past three days at the ATP 250, the Houston semi-finals and championship match will be held Sunday.