Tommy Paul races past Frances Tiafoe in Delray Beach to reach second final in as many weeks

No 3 seed Tommy Paul scored a blink-and-you-missed it victory over longtime friend and rival Frances Tiafoe on Saturday at Delray Beach to secure his seventh consecutive win and his second ATP final appearance in as many weeks.

Paul needed just 61 minutes to complete the lopsided 6-2, 6-2 victory over 2018 Delray Beach Open title winner Tiafoe, and will face the winner of the match between top seed Taylor Fritz and Marcos Giron next.

For the first time in tournament history, and just the fourth time since 2000 on the ATP Tour all four semi-finalists are Americans.

Paul, last week’s Dallas champion, cracked eight aces, never faced a break point and converted all four break points he saw to improve to 2-1 lifetime against Tiafoe at ATP level.

“I feel like I came out playing really well from the jump and I was able to maintain my level throughout the whole match, that’s obviously super difficult with a guy as talented as Frances is. He can change a match so quickly, and that was a goal, to keep my momentum going throughout the whole match – I thought I did a pretty good job.”

Paul matches his career-best winning streak and becomes the first American to reach ATP finals in consecutive weeks since Sebastian Korda in 2022. The 26-year-old American improves to 10-2 on the season while Tiafoe drops to 5-4.

Earlier in the tournament, Tommy Paul edged out Alex Michelsen (5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4)) and beat Australian Jordan Thompson (6-4, 6-3).

Tiafoe, ranked No 15, won against qualifier Radu Albot (7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)) and Italian lucky loser Flavio Cobolli (6-4, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the Delray Beach tournament.

Delray Beach ATP 250, other semi-final result (Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center, hard, USD 661.585):

• Taylor Fritz vs. Marcos Giron

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