This is the third installment of the Tiafoe series. Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy the post.

August

For the second time this year, Tiafoe faced Aslan Karatsev (Russia). It was a close match, with Karatsev racing to two break points in the first game. Tiafoe managed to save them and force a deuce. He then hit two aces to hold and take the early lead. In his next service game, Frances faced another break point at 30-40. Tiafoe hit a winner to save his third break point of the match. After Big Foe’s second service game, neither player faced a break point in the first set, which inevitably led to a tiebreak. Tiafoe had a 2-0 headstart and he never gave it up, taking the set 7-6⁵. Both Frances and Karatsev held their first service games of Set 2, but Tiafoe had his first break point opportunity during Karatsev’s second service game. The Russian managed to hit a winner and save it, going on to hold serve.

In his very next return game, Tiafoe was gifted another break opportunity when Karatsev double-faulted at deuce. Karatsev snatched away Tiafoe’s second chance to break, and once again held serve. Service games were dominant leading up to Big Foe’s fifth service game of the set, with no deuces. Serving to stay in the set, Tiafoe saved a set and break point with a winner, cracked an ace to give himself the advantage, and then struck another winner to close out the game. Another tiebreak ensued after the players both held their 12th service games. The tiebreak was close, with Tiafoe and Karatsev keeping each other within reaching distance at 3-3. From there Karatsev opened up a two-point lead to put himself within a skip of taking the second set. Frances responded well, reeling off four straight points to take the match, ending it with a running forehand down the line.

Tiafoe would fly past Chinese teenager Juncheng Shang 6-2, 6-3, hitting 16 winners on his way to the QFs for the second consecutive year. He next faced Dan Evans (Great Britain) for a spot in the semis. Leading 4-2 in their H2H, it seemed Tiafoe would have a better result, but he was foiled at his home tournament by the Briton. Tiafoe was dismissed 4-6, 5-7, only managing to capitalize on one of his five break opportunities. Big Foe hit 32 winners but was one-upped in most of the important departments, such as hitting seven unforced errors to Evans’ six, only winning 63% of his service points and 24% of return points. Like making the QFs, this was the second year where he lost to the eventual champion (2022 QF loss to Nick Krygios of Australia, 7-6⁵, 6¹²-7, 2-6). Though coming off another hard loss, Tiafoe traveled to Toronto for the National Bank Open (Toronto for this year). His first opponent was Milos Raonic, a home hope coming off of a battle with injuries. This was a rare matchup, as their lone meeting came in 2018 at the same event, with Tiafoe prevailing 7-6⁴, 4-6, 6-1.

The first set was very competitive, with Tiafoe racing out to a 2-0, and maintaining that lead until 5-4. At that point in the match, Raonic broke Frances’ serve to level the set at 5-5. Raonic would then hold serve to take the lead at 6-5. Big Foe wouldn’t bow out yet, holding at love to force a tiebreak. They traded blows in the breaker, only managing to win two consecutive points with both players forcing each other to 12-12. One of the most controversial moments happened at 13-12 in Tiafoe’s favor.

Because of the rules, Tiafoe prevailed 14-12 in the breaker, 7-6¹² for the set. In Set 2 Tiafoe showcased a fantastic showcase on serve, not facing any break points and only going to deuce once throughout his six service games. Raonic also showed why he is known for his serve, not facing any break points and only going to deuce twice in his six service games. They squared off in a tiebreak to decide to match. Would Tiafoe clinch the match, or would Raonic force a decider?

Tiafoe looked poised to move to the next round, opening the breaker 2-0, and moved to 3-1 in the beginning. From there Frances would fade, losing the five points to give Raonic an unassailable lead at 6-3. He managed to save one set point with a winner, but Raonic wouldn’t give his lead up and took the set 7-6⁴. The first game of the decider set the tone for the match. Raonic saved four break points in a 16-minute, 57-second game. In the next game, he broke Tiafoe to love, then fought off another break point to take a 3-0 lead. You could tell that Big Foe’s fight was essentially over, with him falling behind 3-5. When Raonic was serving for the match, Frances gave himself a small chance by creating a break chance. Raonic erased his tiny bit of hope and closed out the match with an ace, hitting 37 aces throughout their encounter.

Tiafoe would move on after his loss, so he could compete in the Western and Southern Open (Cincinnati). He faced Tallon Griekspoor (Netherlands) and ground out a win 6-4, 6⁷-7, 6-4. He booked a clash with Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), who he trailed 0-3 in their H2H. This time was no different, with Tiafoe falling 3-6, 4-6. Tiafoe once again came up short, only winning 4% of his return points on Wawrinka’s first serve, 38% of his return points on Wawrinka’s second serve, and he was broken three times. He also hit 23 unforced errors throughout the match. Tiafoe took some time between Cinny and the US Open to re-evaluate his game.

When the time came, Frances took on countryman Learner Tien, an 18-year-old lefty who had just turned pro. Big Foe asserted himself in the very beginning, breaking Tien in the very first game and holding with an ace in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. At 3-2 in the set, Tiafoe had a three-game run to close out the set 6-2 in 41 minutes. Set 2 was more competitive, with there being five breaks of serve. Nonetheless, at 6-5 with Frances serving, he rattled off three consecutive winners and forced a forehand error from Lien to close out the set. At the beginning of Set 3, Lien won a hard-fought game to take a 1-0 lead. After saving a break point in game 2 of the set, Frances won six straight games to win the match 6-2, 7-5, 6-1, and prepared for round 2 (R2).

He next faced Austrian Sebastian Ofner, and his form looked the same as it was against Tien, dominant. While the first set was 6-3 and not 6-2, Frances did not face a break point and had a two-game lead the whole set. In Set 2, Ofner tried to gain some momentum of his own and held serve at 40-30, but Tiafoe didn’t give him any traction. Yet again, Big Foe went on a six-game run to take the set 6-1. One of the most impressive feats that he achieved was winning three games at love, two on return and one on serve, to go up 3-1. In Set 3 Ofner tried to keep fighting, keeping the match deadlocked until 4-4, where Tiafoe extracted a forehand error from his opponent, hit a winner, and struck back-to-back aces to take the lead. He then proceeded to break Ofner again and win the match 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.

This is already pretty long, so I’ll stop here. I don’t want any melted brains from so much information. Peace!