Frances Tiafoe fought his way back from the brink of defeat to move into the third round of the Miami Open with a 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(5) win over Kyle Edmund, lasting 2 hours and 25 minutes under the blazing Miami sun here in Key Biscayne.
It was the first career meeting between the two, and although the British no.1, seeded 22, was the slight favourite, it was apparent from the start that this was going to be a slug-fest to savour.
The two players, together with Juan Martin Del Potro, possess the biggest forehands in the game today, and both used their considerable weapons from the back of the court to hold serve comfortably throughout the first set until Tiafoe serving at 5-6 found himself at set point down. A huge first serve into the body brought the score to deuce, and the american held moments later to force a tiebreak.
Edmund was the first to wilt under pressure in the breaker with two unforced errors to gift his grateful opponent two set points. The american was swift to punish him with an emphatic 136mph ace up the centre to close out the set to howls of approval from the home fans.
The quality of the tennis did not diminish in the second set as Edmund continued to put Tiafoe under pressure on his serve. Although the american managed to save a break point in his opening service game, he dropped his next service game with a forehand approach into the net. It proved to be decisive as Edmund served out the set to love, 6-4, with a 113mph ace out wide.
Going into the final set, it seemed as if the momentum was with the young Brit as he broke a tiring Tiafoe for a second time in the match, to move ahead 3-2. However, Tiafoe was far from done, and to chants of “Let’s go Frances!”, the american found a second wind in the nick of time as Edmund sought to serve out the match at 5-4. Having fought to get a break point when the Brit’s nerve betrayed him with an unforced error on the backhand, Tiafoe broke back when Edmund netted an awkward backhand volley off a Tiafoe dink. The crowd erupted in delight and a fist pumping Tiafoe ran to his chair having held for 6-5 in the very next game.
Although Edmund was able to hold for the tie break, Tiafoe raced into a commanding 6-1 lead with an almost unassailable 5 match points. Edmund rallied bravely to save the first four, but he was powerless to do anything about a 119mph bomb up the centre, Tiafoe’s 15th ace, to clinch the match to the delight of the raucous home crowd who had witnessed a truly great Houdini escape by the young american.
“Just make the return, make him play”, Tiafoe said in response to a question about his mindset at break point 4-5 in the final set. “Try to put him in an awkward position and I did. I was lucky to win the game.”
Having won his maiden title at Delray Beach a few weeks ago with a clutch of three set wins over the likes of Del Potro, Hyeon Chung and Denis Shapovalov, it was clear that the confidence from those victories helped him to get over the line here in Miami, together with his improved serve.
“Delray Beach taught me a lot. I beat some quality players back-to-back-to-back, which I’ve never done before. I’ve played so many matches matches in my career so far where I played unbelievable, but come up short. Now I’m feeling really comfortable when it gets tight. I actually embrace it. I want it. It’s fun for me. I’m just trying to ride this wave as long as I can.”
Tiafoe’s improved serve was a huge factor today; 15 aces to Edmund’s 7 and he got 71% of first serves into court, winning 78% of the points off it.
“My serve was terrible last year. Yeah, I’m serving good. Done a lot of work on it. Did some tweaks on it in the off-season. I felt I was serving terrible in Australia. Before New York 250, I tweaked it again. Feeling good since. I’ve been staying on it. Yeah, probably the best I ever served in my life.”
As for Edmund, looking back at the closing stages of the match, the British no.1 was not sure that there was much he could have done differently; “That’s tennis”, he said philosophically. “He broke me. It happens. I didn’t do too much wrong. I played reasonably well. A lot better than in Indian Wells. I need to keep working to get my fitness back.”
