Frances Tiafoe def. Milos Raonic 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1
American Frances Tiafoe disappointed the Toronto home crowd, sending Niagara Falls native Milos Raonic packing in a rain-interrupted second-round match at the Rogers Cup.
The first two sets of this showdown were competitive, with the first featuring no breaks of serve. The tiebreak appeared to be on course for a marathon, as each man took care of his serve. Tiafoe finally snagged the mini-break with Raonic serving at 4-4; he pocketed the first set, winning the last three points.
With the crowd itching for a third set, Raonic obliged in the second. The Canadian got the first break of the match with Tiafoe serving at 3-3. The delighted crowd did get their third set, but it wasn’t what they hoped it would be–as the former world No. 3 never found his rhythm. Raonic teetered on the edge of a deciding-set bagel but managed to hold for 1-5 before Tiafoe closed it out.
Tiafoe will take on No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas def. (7) Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6(6)
At first glance, when a 27th-ranked player takes out one who is ranked No. 8, it is considered an upset. Not so in this particular case. Tsitsipas has hot hands right now; the last two tournaments for the Greek youngster were Wimbledon, where he reached the round of 16, and Washington D.C., where he made the semifinals. Conversely, Thiem is coming dangerously close to embodying the title “clay-court specialist”.
Yes, Thiem beat Rafael Nadal on clay a couple times at places not called Roland Garros–and given Nadal’s clay pedigree, that’s nothing to sneeze at. However, the Austrian rarely produces top-10 results off the dirt. It’s a good win for Tsitsipas, who will no doubt continue to climb the rankings–but not really a surprising one.
Tsitsipas will take on Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic on Thursday.
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Tiafoe is so good.
I certainly enjoy watching him. I’m in Toronto covering the event for The Grandstand, so I was just at his presser. He gives a great interview, too.
what did he have to say?
The transcript wasn’t ready when I left, but he has talking about when he asked his girlfriend to go out with him the first time. He was also talking about the Laver Cup. I’ll blog about it tomorrow morning.
He’s witty and funny. The whole press room was like “I wish he would keep talking! That was fun!”
ETA – his GF is from Toronto, so somebody asked about her.