Tiafoe races past Shang to book quarter-final berth in Washington

American Frances Tiafoe, the second seed, reached the quarter-finals of the Citi Open by beating Chinese qualifier Juncheng Shang 6-2, 6-3 at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington on Friday night.

Heading into this match, the 18-year-old Shang had been playing some fiery tennis, with the world No 149 defeating Ecuadorian Emilio Gomez (6-3, 6-3) and American Ben Shelton, the No 14 seed (6-2, 3-6, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

However, Tiafoe put on a solid serving performance to avoid what was potentially a banana skin match for the American, winning 80% of his first serve points and saving all four break points against him.

Tiafoe, ranked No 10, will play No 9 seed Daniel Evans next.

Ahead of his victory, the American won against Russian Aslan Karatsev (7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)).

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Tennis Majors

Washington ATP500, other last 16 results (Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, hard, USD 2.013.940, most recent results first):

• Daniel Evans beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-3
• Taylor Fritz (1) beat Andy Murray (15): 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor (12) beat Gael Monfils (WC): 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
• Jordan Thompson beat Christopher Eubanks (11): 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (13) beat Yosuke Watanuki: 6-0, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (5) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 6-4, 6-3
• J.J. Wolf (16) beat Michael Mmoh: 6-4, 7-6 (5)