Frances Tiafoe wins the gritty way: Dismantles Goffin at Miami third round
After four years of playing the professional tour, it's been all challenging, but winning his first ATP crown was emotional. "Now I'm in a position not only to help myself, but help fund my family," Tiafoe had said. It was the title win at the 2018 Delray Beach Open as a wild card that he started upping his game and slowly moved out of the Challenger unit to the pro circuit. Tiafoe had incredible wins like a second round victory over Juan Martin del Potro at Delray Beach. But earlier in the season was wins over Grigor Dimitrov in a four set battle as well as defeating Kevin Anderson. It was along with the wins his three straight set loss at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal. This was instrumental in helping him perfect his game for other opponents. He often gets the chance to play against other NextGens as Alexander Zverev in the Paris Masters of last year and Denis Shapovalov who he blasted and won in three sets. A big 2018 win was playing top ranker, Kei Nishikori and coming out the winner.
Days ago he played David Ferrer at the Miami Open and won in three sets with the iconic player calling his career an end at this year's Madrid tournament. Tiafoe had said to the ATPtour media on the Ferrer match that: "I just tried to stay the course...don't be a junior. Grow up. Keep going. I got off to a good start...and kept steamrolling." He feels like he can execute each and every time and as a NextGen player, executing his shots is the key factor to getting a chance to play with the big ones and win.
He indeed steamrolled during his third round match with Belgium's David Goffin winning a defiant two set victory of 7-5, 7-6. They've played four times and this is the first win over Goffin that causes him to be in pure exaltation. Tiafoe and Goffin stayed up with each other, their cross courts were amazing and strategies of opening the court up were precise to score winners. It was Goffin who crawled up to a 4-2 lead but mixing up his shots pushed Tiafoe to take the first set 7-5. The powerful forehand and controlled backhand were part of the recipe the NextGen possessed. Goffin put it all out there on the court, but after a rain delay and a few shirt changes, the match had Tiafoe's name on it.
The second set started off much like the first with Goffin having the break and fighting back hard, but Tiafoe had more power and precision to push the match to a tiebreaker coming down from 0-30 at 5-6 games. It was his dynamic plays at the right time, baseline winners and Goffin's forehand in the alley that gave the victory to Tiafoe. The audience applauded and Tiafoe had beaten his chest. It's for sure his ranking will move into the 20s and he is proving everyday and every way, he is his nickname 'Big Foe'.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2FEzjNw
No comments