Tiafoe rides a huge Cincinnati roar to reach first Masters semi-final in two years
Frances Tiafoe won against Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (2), 7-5 on Friday night. He’ll play No 27 seed Brandon Nakashima in the next round
Frances Tiafoe, Cincinnati 2026 | © Pam Smith/Wick Photography for Cincinnati Open
American Frances Tiafoe, the No 17 seed, beat Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 10 seed, 7-6 (2), 7-5, to reach the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open on Friday night, setting off one of the loudest roars of the week from the home crowd.
It is Tiafoe’s third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, after 2023 Indian Wells and 2024 Cincinnati, and his first at this level in two years – in 2024 he went all the way to the Cincinnati final, still the deepest Masters 1000 run of his career.
The win extends Tiafoe’s run of top-20 wins to three in a row, following victories over No 16 seed Learner Tien and No 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the previous two rounds — the win over Auger-Aliassime his lone top-10 scalp in that streak.
Musetti broke early in the first set to lead 3-2, but Tiafoe broke straight back in a marathon game to level at 3-3, and the two held serve the rest of the way to a tiebreak that Tiafoe dominated 7-2. The pattern repeated in the second: Tiafoe broke early to lead 5-3, only for Musetti to break back and level at 5-5, before Tiafoe broke again immediately and served out the match 7-5.
It moves him to 4-3 in his overall series with Musetti and 3-1 on hard courts. His semi-final meeting with Brandon Nakashima also marks the first time two American men have reached the Cincinnati semi-finals since Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in 2010.
For Musetti, the loss extends his wait for a first Top 25 win since the Australian Open, where he beat both Tomas Machac and Taylor Fritz.
