Frances Tiafoe is currently eyeing another superb run at the Vienna Open after overcoming Cam Norrie.
Tiafoe beat Norrie 6-4, 7-6(7-4) in their Vienna Open round of 32 clash, and now faces Matteo Berrettini in the last 16.
It has been a tough time for the American since his fantastic US Open run last month, where Tiafoe lost his semi-final with Taylor Fritz.
Since then, he lost the Laver Cup with Team World before suffering early exits at the Japan Open and Shanghai Masters.
The latter was particularly frustrating, with Tiafoe apologising for his expletive-laden rant after his loss to Roman Safiullin.
Frances Tiafoe says what many people don’t understand about his career
He has since reached the quarter-finals of the Almaty Open, but will now want to go much further in Vienna this week.
Fortunately, Tiafoe boasts brilliant experience at the competition, having reached the Erste Bank Open final in Vienna as a qualifier in 2021.
Discussing just how important that run was for his career, Tiafoe told Tennis TV: “That week was really big for me. I think a lot of people don’t really understand it. That was kind of like… more or less my breakout kind of week, honestly.
“You know I’ve beaten players and I make quarters of Slams and quarters of Masters Series, but to have a one-week event, qualie, and beat consecutive dudes back-to-back days, I think I beat a bunch of top 20 guys, top 10 guys.
“It was pretty special and it’s given me a ton of confidence that I can do that day in, day out, that I was one of these guys.
“Obviously I know how talented I am and the gifts I have, but to be able to do it day in, day out… so yeah, since then this will be the third year in a row finishing top 20 so since then I’ve kind of gone the right way.”
Alexander Zverev beats Frances Tiafoe after stunning Vienna run
In an extraordinary event for the qualifier, Tiafoe overcame the likes of Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman.
The Greek star was the number one seed at the tournament, with Sinner and Schwartzman seeded seventh and eighth respectively.
But an insurmountable test finally arrived in the 2021 final, with second seed Alexander Zverev beating Tiafoe to the title.
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As per his own admission, however, the American has enjoyed a fantastic career since then, and it should only get better in the years to come.
But Italian icon Berrettini will have plans of his own this week, with Tiafoe’s upcoming opponent undoubtedly keen to continue his strong season.
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