It will be an all-American semifinal at the Delray Beach Open on Saturday as Tommy Paul takes on compatriot Frances Tiafoe for a spot in the final.
It has been a hot minute since Frances Tiafoe has beaten his friend and countryman. The two men met once a year between 2020 and 2022 (no meetings last year), but Paul won the two most recent encounters–giving the world No. 14 a 2-1 head-to-head advantage. However, it’s notable that Tiafoe’s one win came in Delray back in 2020.
Tiafoe has endured a rocky start to the 2024 season. Until this week, the world No. 15 had won a single match in each of the events he entered–including a shocking second-round loss to world No. 75 Tomas Machac at the Australian Open. Tiafoe defeated Radu Albot and lucky loser Flavio Cobolli to earn his spot in the Delray Beach semifinals.
Paul had a more difficult to path to the semis. In particular he faced a legitimate challenge in the second round in the form of American teenager Alex Michelsen, who took him three competitive sets. While their head-to-head and ranking are close, Paul is in much better form at the moment. Paul won the event in Dallas last week, and while he’s played a lot of tennis lately, he looked plenty fresh enough against Albot on Friday.
Cheryl pick: Paul in 2
Ricky pick: Paul in 3
who ya got?
Tiafoe loves the Delray crowd, and that may get him a set….TP in 3.
Agreed