CINCINNATI : Frances Tiafoe beat Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(2) 7-5 on Friday to reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, where he will face fellow American Brandon Nakashima in a clash that adds intrigue to the U.S. Open build-up.
Tiafoe needed more than two hours and four match points to overcome 10th-seeded Italian Musetti on a humid night in Ohio, with thunderstorms nearby but never interrupting play.
The American, looking to revive a summer disrupted by early exits in Washington and Montreal as well as a wrist injury, played aggressively throughout and struck 18 winners before sealing victory with an unreturnable serve.
Tiafoe has won six of his seven career meetings with Nakashima but will face an opponent in the form of his life after the 27th seed rallied to beat sixth-seeded compatriot Taylor Fritz 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3.
Nakashima has reached the semi-finals at back-to-back Masters 1000 tournaments after his run to the last four in Montreal last week, continuing his impressive turnaround on the North American hard courts ahead of the U.S. Open later this month.
The 24-year-old entered Friday’s match with a 1-4 record against Fritz but edged a tight opening set in which both players dominated on serve.
After trading leads and mini-breaks in the tiebreak, Nakashima converted his fifth set point when Fritz sent a shot long.
Fritz responded strongly, using aggressive returning to break early in the second set before closing it out with an ace to force a decider.
The sixth seed then broke for a 3-2 lead in the third, but Nakashima recovered immediately, coming back from 30-0 down to convert his second break point and level at 3-3.
Nakashima won the final three games as Fritz’s errors mounted, serving out the match to extend the hottest run of his career and claim his fourth victory over a top-10 opponent this 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 victory over American Madison Keys, winning 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) to reach her first WTA 1000 semi-final.
The unseeded Czech held her nerve in a tense deciding-set tiebreak to continue her breakthrough run.
“I believe in myself much more than I ever have before,” Bejlek said in an on-court interview.
She will face American Coco Gauff, who eased past Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-2 6-2 in 70 minutes.
Gauff reached her second Cincinnati semi-final and remains on course to repeat 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.”
