On Saturday frances Tiafoe additional a touch a lot of sparkle to his already sparkly season by beating South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo 6-2 0-6 6-4 to line up to all-American final against Taylor Fritz at the Japan Open.
In September the American reached his 1st Grand slam semi-final at the U.S. Open, reached his second title-decider of the season despite a poor second set in his triumph.
“It was a weird match, but happy to get through,” said the 24-year-old. “In these kind of matches it’s not always gonna be pretty, it’s not always gonna be your best stuff, but a win is what matters.”
Kwon looked nervous from time to time within the opener and struggled to handle Tiafoe’s deft mixture of accuracy, bit and power because the yank perturbed off 5 games in a very row before claiming the set 6-2.
But the South Korean then sweptback the second set 6-0. Fourth-seeded Tiafoe upped the ante within the third, winning the 2 break points he required to serve for the match at 5-2, solely to stumble yet again.
The American sealed the win at the second time of asking with a cross-court forehand. Third-seeded Fritz felled Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 within the second semi-final.
His triumph ensured he can build his prime ten debut in next week’s rankings. It will be Fritz’s third final this year, having won the opposite 2 at Indian Wells and Eastbourne.
