Frances Tiafoe saves 2 MPs, stuns Holger Rune to reach Cincinnati final | ATP Tour

Cincinnati

Tiafoe saves 2 MPs, stuns Rune to reach finals in Cincinnati

The American will play World No. 1 Sinner by title

August 19, 2024

Frances Tiafoe reached her first ATP Masters 1000 final in stunning fashion on Sunday at the Cincinnati Open.

The American came from 2-5 down in the third set of his semi-final against Holger Rune and saved two match points at 4-5 before going past the 15th seed 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 ( 4). Tiafoe will face Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, on Monday for the trophy.

“He’s crazy, he’s crazy. That last set was peanuts,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “It was windy there at the end so we were just playing percentages. But yeah, I was really lucky there. I had a few ropes, but I fought back. I competed hard and put myself in a position.”

🌟 The dream is still alive 🌟@FTiafoe takes out Rune with a 4-6 6-1 7-6 win to face Sinner in #CincyTennis for the last time!@CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/v1Ip4lREMk

– ATP Tour (@atptour) August 19, 2024

Tiafoe started the week with a 19-18 record on the season. But he found form in a big way under new coach David Witt, becoming the first American to reach the final in Cincinnati since John Isner in 2013.

With his win, Tiafoe climbed to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. When the new PIF ATP Rankings are released, there will be five Americans – Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Tiafoe – inside the Top 20 for the first time since the week of 24 February 1997.

The fan favorite was just millimeters away from losing. On the first game point he faced at 4-5, Tiafoe hit a forehand that crossed the net and went wide to prevent a takedown. Rune had another chance to close out the game, but missed a backhand return.

“At 5-3 I played a difficult game, I came back. Luck is on your side sometimes. Those strings make a big, big difference,” Tiafoe said. “I saved my other match point like that. But in the breaker I came up with some good pictures guys. I played well, I hit well early, I didn’t do well in the end. But I fought, I fought and he got a little stronger. One thing led to another and here we are.”

From there, the momentum was strong in America’s corner. Rune has the best backhands in the world, but Tiafoe was willing to trade on that side and often came out better in those circles.

The three-time ATP Tour number one hit a backhand passing crosscourt to take a 6/3 lead into the final break and was able to seal his victory after two hours and nine minutes.

Tiafoe hit 13 aces and saved four of six break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats. The key was secondary success – the unseeded American won 61 percent of those points and Rune was able to capture only 46 percent.

Sinner leads Tiafoe 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and this will be their first match of the season. Most recently they met last year in Vienna, where Italy won 6-3, 6-4. With that, the American said that the top seed is the favorite, but he relishes the opportunity to fight in front of the Cincinnati fans.

“You’re right, you’re right, aren’t you? He lost us [five] is it the same throughout the year? He is a favorite in every game he plays, no question,” said Tiafoe. “You have to tip your hat to a guy like him.”