Match Report
Friday Night time ‘Foe: Tiafoe upsets Rublev in entrance of raucous Washington crowd
Korda, Shelton, Cobolli additionally advance to SFs
August 03, 2024
Ben Solomon
Frances Tiafoe advances to his first Washington semi-final.
By ATP Workers
Native hero Frances Tiafoe broke new floor Friday evening on the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The American rode a raucous Washington crowd to his first High 10 win since 2022, together with his 6-4, 7-6(3) upset of high seed Andrey Rublev sending him by way of the the semi-finals for the primary time on the ATP 500.
“I noticed the group and I used to be like, ‘God, it will be epic tonight,’ ” Tiafoe mentioned. “I used to be even telling Andrey earlier than, it will be fairly rowdy. I used to be tremendous blissful to see everybody come out on a Friday evening and wish to come watch me. It was unbelievable.”
The Maryland native broke halfway by way of the opening set after an electrical begin, then battled again from 1-4 within the second to advance on the event the place he made his ATP Tour debut in 2014.
“It helped early that I used to be serving fairly properly. After which after [a big forehand] and couple different pictures… I used to be hitting plenty of nice volleys and flick pictures,” mentioned the fifth seed. “That was getting me going. It is a type of issues the place you are like, ‘Ah, it will be a type of days.’ And you then form off simply trip with the depth and attempt to get on the man.”
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After enhancing to 3-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head towards the Rublev, Tiafoe is up two locations to No. 27 this week within the PIF ATP Stay Rankings. He can re-renter the High 25 by successful his first title of 2024 on Sunday.
Subsequent up for the 26-year-old is an all-American semi-final showdown towards Sebastian Korda.
“He is such a clear participant,” Tiafoe mentioned of his subsequent opponent. “He is acquired a great serve, returns properly, strikes properly for an enormous man. I am simply going too need to play rather well, play fairly medical. Whoever will be on the entrance foot and dictating the opposite man goes to be in a successful place. Hopefully that is me.”
Korda, after saving two match factors Thursday towards Thanasi Kokkinakis, earned a much more easy victory towards one other Aussie on Friday. With a 6-4, 6-2 end result towards Jordan Thompson, the fourth-seeded American superior to his fourth semi-final of the season.
The victory noticed Korda transfer again to. No 20 within the PIF ATP Stay Rankings, a mark that will match his career-high PIF ATP Rating from June. The 24-year-old can transfer as much as No. 18 if he matches his father, Petr Korda (1992), by successful the Washington title.
In his first Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly with Thompson, Korda hit 10 aces and saved the lone break level towards him, in response to Infosys ATP Stats.
The alternative semi-final will see second seed Ben Shelton tackle tenth seed Flavio Cobolli.
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Shelton led the resurgent Denis Shapovalov 7-6(5), 6-6(6-3), and had triple match level when the Canadian was defaulted after making a remark to a fan. By coming by way of the all-lefty battle, the American improved to 4-0 in quarter-finals on house soil and improved his season document to 26-16 — equalling his win tally from 2023, his first full 12 months on the ATP Tour.
Cobolli was a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2) winner towards #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen. The 22-year-old Italian, who competed on the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals introduced by PIF final November, saved 5 match factors towards Alejandro Davidovich Fokina within the third spherical to succeed in his first ATP 500 quarter-final. He’s now by way of to his second tour-level semi-final general, after reaching that stage in Geneva in Might.
Cobolli is up six locations this week to No. 42 within the PIF ATP Stay Rankings, setting himself up for a profession excessive. He’ll crack the High 40 with yet another win and can enter the High 30 together with his first title.