Tiafoe saves 2 MPs, stuns Rune to reach Cincinnati final

  • Posted: Aug 19, 2024

Frances Tiafoe reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in dramatic fashion on Sunday at the Cincinnati Open.

The American rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the third set of his semi-final against Holger Rune and saved two match points on serve at 4-5 before rallying past the 15th seed 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4). Tiafoe will face Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, on Monday for the trophy.

“Crazy, crazy. That last set was nuts,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “It got pretty breezy there at the end so we were kind of just playing the percentages. But yeah, I got really lucky there. I had a couple net cords, but I also battled. I competed really hard and put myself in position.”

Tiafoe began the week with a 19-18 record on the season. But he has found form in a big way under the tutelage of new coach David Witt, becoming the first American to reach the Cincinnati final since John Isner in 2013.

With his victory, Tiafoe ascended to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. When the new PIF ATP Rankings are released, there will be five Americans — Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Tiafoe — inside the Top 20 for the first time since the week of 24 February 1997.

The fans’ favourite was just millimetres from losing. On the first match point he faced at 4-5, Tiafoe hit a forehand that clipped the top of the net and just popped over to stave off elimination. Rune had another opportunity to close out the match, but missed a backhand return.

“At 5-3 I played a really tough game, made returns. The luck goes on your side sometimes. Those net cords made a huge, huge difference,” Tiafoe said. “Saved one of my match points like that. But in the breaker I came up with some good shots, man. I played well, hit some good serves early, didn’t serve great at the end. But I battled, I battled and he got a little tight. One thing led to another and here we are.”

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From there, momentum was firmly in the American’s corner. Rune has one of the best backhands in the world, but Tiafoe was willing to trade blows off that side and often came out better in those rallies.

The three-time ATP Tour titlist hit a sensational curling backhand passing shot crosscourt to take a 6/3 lead in the final-set tie-break and was able to seal his victory after two hours and nine minutes.

Tiafoe hit 13 aces and saved four of the six break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats. The key was second-serve success — the unseeded American won 61 per cent of those points and Rune only managed to capture 46 per cent of them.

Sinner leads Tiafoe 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and this will be their first match of the season. They most recently clashed last year in Vienna, where the Italian won 6-3, 6-4. With that in mind, the American said that the top seed is the favourite, but he is excited for the opportunity to battle in front of the Cincinnati fans.

“Absolutely, for sure he is, right? He’s lost like [five] matches all year? He’s the favourite in every match he plays, no question about it,” Tiafoe said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to a guy like him.”

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