Arthur Fils staged a remarkable comeback to beat Tommy Paul at the Miami Open.
Fils claimed he is playing better than before his back injury prior to his match against Paul, and he has proven that to be the case after reaching his first semifinal at Masters 1000 level.
However, this was very close to not happening, with Fils down 6-2 in the deciding set tie-break against Paul.
After coming back from behind, Fils has revealed exactly what he was telling himself when facing those four match points.
Arthur Fils told himself he might get lucky in the tie-break against Tommy Paul
Fils beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in just 55 minutes in his second match at the Miami Open this year, but his victory over Paul could not have been more different.
Coming from a set down, Fils beat Paul 6(3)-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(6), winning the last six points of the match and saving four match points.
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Fils has now revealed exactly what he was telling himself when he found himself 6-2 down in the third set tie-break.
“I don’t really know! I just had to believe in myself; that was the most important thing,” said Fils, as reported by L’Equipe. “I think he played some really, really good tennis, especially in the tiebreak up to 6-2. I think he hit four or five winners; he was playing incredibly well.
“I just thought, ‘Okay, point by point. If I get lucky, I’ll pull it off; if not, no big deal’. He was playing better than me, so I just had to fight to the end and see what happened.””
Arthur Fils provides fitness update ahead of his Miami Open semifinal
While there is a lot of excitement around the 21-year-old right now, there is also understandable caution with Fils, who struggled with a back injury last year and was out of competition for seven months before returning in February.
After spending nearly three hours on court against Paul, Fils was asked how he was feeling physically, to which he admitted he probably wouldn’t be able to walk the following day had he lost.
“It was tough physically, I need to recover now,” said Fils. “My legs are a bit sore, a bit stiff, but you know, when you win, you don’t feel it as much. If I had lost, I wouldn’t even be able to walk tomorrow, that’s for sure!”
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Fils now has a big opportunity to reach his first Masters 1000 final in Miami, with Jiri Lehecka standing in his way.
This will be a fourth meeting between the two players, with Fils leading the head-to-head 2-1 against Lehecka after beating him in Doha in their most recent meeting.
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