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 night time on the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The American rode a raucous Washington crowd to his first Prime 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 gang and I used to be like, ‘God, it is going to be epic tonight,’ ” Tiafoe mentioned. “I used to be even telling Andrey earlier than, it is going to be fairly rowdy. I used to be tremendous blissful to see everybody come out on a Friday night time and wish to come watch me. It was unimaginable.”
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 match the place he made his ATP Tour debut in 2014.
“It helped early that I used to be serving fairly nicely. After which after [a big forehand] and couple different photographs… I used to be hitting loads of nice volleys and flick photographs,” mentioned the fifth seed. “That was getting me going. It is a kind of issues the place you are like, ‘Ah, it is going to be a kind of days.’ And then you definitely type off simply journey with the depth and attempt to get on the man.”
After bettering to 3-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head in opposition to the Rublev, Tiafoe is up two locations to No. 27 this week within the PIF ATP Stay Rankings. He can re-renter the Prime 25 by successful his first title of 2024 on Sunday.
Subsequent up for the 26-year-old is an all-American semi-final showdown in opposition to Sebastian Korda.
“He is such a clear participant,” Tiafoe mentioned of his subsequent opponent. “He is bought an excellent serve, returns nicely, strikes nicely for an enormous man. I am simply going too need to play rather well, play fairly medical. Whoever could 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 in opposition to Thanasi Kokkinakis, earned a much more simple victory in opposition to one other Aussie on Friday. With a 6-4, 6-2 consequence in opposition to 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 may 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 in opposition to him, in keeping with Infosys ATP Stats.
The other semi-final will see second seed Ben Shelton tackle tenth seed Flavio Cobolli.
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 file to 26-16 — equalling his win tally from 2023, his first full yr on the ATP Tour.
Cobolli was a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2) winner in opposition to #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen. The 22-year-old Italian, who competed on the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals offered by PIF final November, saved 5 match factors in opposition to 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 Prime 40 with another win and can enter the Prime 30 together with his first title.
