Top seed Frances Tiafoe won two matches in one day to reach the semifinals at the Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. Rain cancelled much of the programme in the past three days. The semifinals and the finals will be held on Sunday.
Tiafoe beat his compatriot Steve Johnson 6-2 6-4 in the second round two and a half hours before returning to the court to defeat Jason Kubler 6-4 6-4 in the quarter final.
Tiafoe won 28 of his 31 first serve points to beat Kubler in 1 hour and 28 minutes. The US player earned a break in the seventh set of the first set and another break in the first game of the second set.
Tiafoe is aiming to win the second title of his career after Delray Beach 2018 in his first ATP Tour event as top seed.
“I have not played two matches in one day in a long time. 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 has played a lot lately, so I knew he was going to come after me. It was a good match”, said Tiafoe.
Tiafoe set up a semifinal against Houston-born Dutchman Gijs Brower, who beat fourth seed and 2013 Houston champion John Isner 6-4 7-6 (7-4) when the match resumed on Saturday. Brower held a 6-4 5-6 over Isner before the match was suspended on Thursday due to rain.
Brower returned to the court for the second match on Saturday to beat J.J. Wolf 6-3 6-4 with a break in each set to reach the first ATP Tour semifinal of his career. The Dutch player would move up into the top 100 of the ATP Ranking, if he reaches the Houston final.
“The first match was mentally tiring a little bit because it took a couple of days and even though it rained a lot, you have got to stay sharp the whole day. The second match I just played really well, so I am very happy with the way I played against J.J. I had a good tactic and it worked. It was a good match”, said Brower.
Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry will face German qualifier Yannik Hanfmann. Etcheverry beat Australia’s Max Purcell 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in the second round and 2019 Houston champion Christian Garin 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 in the quarter final to advance to his second ATP Tour semifinal this season. Hanfmann upset this year’s Australian Open semifinal Tommy Paul 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 before cruising past Tomas Machac 6-1 6-2. Hanfmann is aiming to reach his third ATP Tour final after finishing runner-up twice in Gstaad 2017 and Kitzbuehl 2020.
