Tiafoe adds another giant scalp with Tsitsipas upset in Vienna
Tiafoe improves to 4-1 in his last 5 matches against top 10 opponents
Frances Tiafoe at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria
Image Credit: Imago / Panoramic
Frances Tiafoe is quickly acquiring the reputation of a giant killer on the men’s tour. The American continued his impressive run of form in recent month, coming from a set down and a break in the deciding set, to cause a stunning upset over top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria.
Tiafoe needed one hour and 49 minutes to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for his second win over the Greek in recent months. The 23-year-old also beat Tsitsipas in the first round of Wimbledon before losing to him in the second round of the Tokyo Olympics.
Tiafoe’s win sets up a quarter-final clash against eighth seed Diego Schwartzman, who defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 in another entertaining second round clash on Thursday.
This was Tiafoe’s fourth win in five matches against a top 10 player since June this year, a big improvement on his 3-21 record against the same group in the March 2017-April 2021 time period.
Zverev earns 300th career win
Meanwhile, second seed Alexander Zverev remained in the hunt for the Vienna title with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Alex de Minaur to reach his milestone 300th career win.
The German will take on Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Cameron Norrie, for a spot in the semi-finals.
It has taken Zverev a little more than seven years to reach the milestone, with his first ATP win coming in Hamburg in 2014. The German’s 68.3 winning percentage (300-138 record) puts him in sixth position in this stat among active players –
- Novak Djokovic (83.2%)
- Rafael Nadal (83.1%)
- Roger Federer (82%)
- Andy Murray (76.5%)
- Juan Martin del Potro (71.7%)
- Alexander Zverev (68.3%)
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