Tiafoe beats Berrettini in third-set tiebreaker at Cincinnati Masters
Frances Tiafoe outlasted Matteo Berrettini in a three-set thriller to reach round two at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday. Sebastian Korda is next for Tiafoe in an all-American showdown.
Frances Tiafoe – US OPEN 2021
Dating back to a fourth-round loss at Wimbledon to David Goffin, Frances Tiafoe has lost multiple tough matches despite maintaining a high level of play.
That was almost the case again on Monday night at the Western & Southern Open, where the American ran into world No 15 Matteo Berrettini in the opening round. Tiafoe was arguably the better player pretty much the entire way, but he still found himself in a third-set tiebreaker after more than two and a half hours of play. This time around, though, the 24-year-old managed to get across the finish line. Tiafoe prevailed 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) after two hours and 51 minutes to book his spot in the last 32.
Foe lets it flow 💥 @FTiafoe edges Matteo Berrettini in three entertaining sets, 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(5). #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/EIbp9b1EGN
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 16, 2022
Big win sends Tiafoe through to matchup with Korda
“Needed that,” Tiafoe wrote on the television camera lens following his victory.
“I’ve been playing some great tennis,” he assessed. “I really just needed this. Against a quality player, it was big…. I’m happy I get another chance to play again.”
The world No 25 will play agin on Wednesday when he faces fellow American Sebastian Korda, a straight-set winner over Karen Khachanov.
Cincinnati Masters 1000, other first-round matches and results
- Filip Krajinovic vs. Daniel Evans
- Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
- Lorenzo Sonego vs. Ben Shelton
- Nick Kyrgios vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Henri Laaksonen vs. Alex De Minaur
- Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Fabio Fognini
- Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Baez
- Borna Coric vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Jannik Sinner
- Tommy Paul vs. Jenson Brooksby
- Denis Shapovalov vs. Grigor Dimitrov
- Sebastian Korda beat Karen Khachanov: 6-3, 6-4
- Marcos Giron (Q) beat David Goffin (Q): 6-3, 6-4
- Marin Čilić (14) beat Jaume Munar (Q): 6-3, 6-3
- Andy Murray beat Stan Wawrinka: 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5
- Cameron Norrie (9) beat Holger Rune: 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
- John Isner beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-6(11), 3-6, 7-6 (4)
- Emil Ruusuvuori beat J.J. Wolf (WC): 7-6(2), 6-2
- Roberto Bautista Agut (15) beat Francisco Cerundolo: 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2
- Diego Schwartzman (13) beat Alex Molcan: 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
- Aslan Karatsev beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-5, 7-5
- Mackenzie McDonald (WC) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili: 6-0, 6-1
- Botic van de Zandschulp beat Maxime Cressy: 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
