Frances Tiafoe bounced back from an early exit in Montreal as he overcame Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to advance to the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
Tiafoe felt hard done by after controversy in his Canadian Open defeat, but the likable American was able to shake the setback as he muscled his way past Davidovich Fokina in straight sets (6-3 7-6(6)).
The 26-year-old opted to skip the Olympics in Paris in a bid to focus his efforts on the North American hard-court swing, ultimately with his eyes on another deep run at his home slam, the US Open.
Tiafoe has fond memories of Flushing Meadows, most notably in 2022 when he produced an awe-inspiring run to the semi-final stage, including triumph over Rafael Nadal before falling short to Carlos Alcaraz in a gut-wrenching five-set defeat.
With this in mind, it appeared a sensible decision to head straight to the US after Wimbledon, where he made a strong canter to the semi-finals at the ATP 500 in Washington.
And after a slight blip at the Canadian Open, Tiafoe is back in the green in Cincinnati and will face the bronze medalist from Paris, Lorenzo Musetti, on Wednesday.
Frances Tiafoe has poor serving day at the Cincinnati Open
Despite getting over the line in straight sets against the Spaniard, Frances Tiafoe was unable to rely heavily on his serve.
“I thought it was a really good win,” Tiafoe told the Tennis Channel. “I was serving 39% – I served poorly, but I played really well from the back of the court and broke serve really well.
“Returning and breaking more is something that I have been focusing on.
“Overall, I’ll take the win – especially if I can beat quality players when serving 39%.”
Despite serving only finding 39% of first serves – a 13% decrease from his first-round loss to Alejandro Tabilo in Montreal – the American number-five was able to muster up 14 break points during the match, thanks to his improvements on return.
Was it a good decision for Tiafoe to skip the Olympics?
Eyebrows were often raised when tennis players decided to miss the Olympics to concentrate on the US swing.
However, Andy Roddick was among those to defend Tiafoe’s choice to do exactly that, citing the importance of this period in the season of the young American.
Tiafoe has had success at the US Open in prior years and will hope to draw on that as he aims to go further this time around.
His epic five-set defeat by Alcaraz at this year’s Wimbledon will have played a part in the decision to head straight to the US but, at this point in time, it’s looking like a rather sensible move.
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