CINCINNATI, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Frances Tiafoe overcame Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(2) 7-5 on Friday to reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, setting up an all-American clash with Brandon Nakashima as the U.S. Open approaches.
Tiafoe needed more than two hours and four match points to complete the win over 10th seed Musetti on a humid night in Ohio, with nearby thunderstorms threatening but never interrupting play.
Tiafoe, seeking to revive a summer disrupted by early exits in Washington and Montreal as well as a wrist injury, played aggressively throughout, firing 18 winners before sealing victory with an unreturnable serve.
Tiafoe owns a 6-1 career record against Nakashima but will face a player in confident form after Nakashima rallied from a break down in the deciding set to beat fellow American and sixth seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3.
Nakashima has now reached the last four at back-to-back Masters 1000 events after his run in Montreal last week, capping another impressive turnaround on the North American hard courts ahead of the U.S. Open, which starts later this month.
Nakashima, who came into the match with a 1-4 record against Fritz, edged a tight first set, with both players dominant on serve as the match went to a thrilling tiebreak.
After trading leads and mini-breaks, Nakashima finally converted his fifth set point when Fritz sent a ball just long.
Fritz responded strongly, using aggressive returning to break Nakashima early in the second before closing out the set with an ace to force a decider.
Fritz capitalised on his opponent’s unforced errors to break serve and move ahead 3-2 in the decider, but the momentum swung back almost immediately as Nakashima recovered from 30-0 down to convert his second break point of the match and level at 3-3.
Nakashima then won the final three games as Fritz’s errors accumulated and the 27th seed’s confidence continued to grow, serving out a win that extended the hottest run of his career and gave him his fourth top-10 victory of the season.
BEJLEK CONTINUES GIANT-KILLING RUN
In the women’s draw, 20-year-old Sara Bejlek followed her upset of world number one Aryna Sabalenka with a comeback win over American Madison Keys 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) on Friday.
The unseeded Czech will play in her first WTA 1000 semi-final after coming through a tense deciding-set tiebreak.
“I believe in myself much more than I ever have before,” Bejlek said in an on-court interview.
She will next face American Coco Gauff, who eased past Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-2 6-2 in just 70 minutes.
The 22-year-old reached her second Cincinnati semi-final and remains on course for a repeat of her 2023 title triumph.
“Obviously the next match is going to be tough against Sara,” said Gauff, who advanced to her fifth WTA 1000 semi-final of the year.
“She’s had some incredible wins. But I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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