Frances Tiafoe throws away victory in Stockholm against Tommy Paul

Friday, 12 November 2021 at 20:45

A couple of Americans went head to head in the Stockholm Open semifinal and it was Frances Tiafoe who threw away a won match only to lose it in three sets.

It's been a couple of stellar weeks for Frances Tiafoe who has been playing some of the best and most consistent tennis he has played all career. The American is enjoying himself in the indoor environment of Europe and it allows him to play a beautiful style of tennis filled with variety. A great serve, great volleys, attacking play, and enjoyment in the game. All of that follows Tiafoe during this run.

Today he faced firm opposition from another American who was playing really well, Tommy Paul. The American took down Murray yesterday with some stellar play. Today he started off well again, hitting his serve and bombarding away with the forehand. Rather quickly Tiafoe realized he needed to mix it up and started incorporating some slices in there.

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By the end of the set, Paul was starting to make more and more mistakes and eventually Tiafoe found a breakthrough late in the set securing it with 7-5. The key was variety as the American was unable to respond to all the tricks Tiafoe had. The start of the 2nd set saw Paul use a rare chance to break Tiafoe's serve. The American has been fairly good all match long keeping Paul away from break points.

After losing his serve Tiafoe got lucky with a rather bad game from Paul. We were tied at 2-2 and nothing changed until 5-5 when Tiafoe player another marvelous game to ake the 6-5 lead. He ran into some trouble when serving for the match allowing two break points and on the 2nd one he served a double fault. In the tiebreak Paul proved better winning it 7-5.

He played a sensational third set taking advantage of Tiafoe who was rather absent in one game breaking him to take an early lead. After that he held on with some stellar and timely serving for his biggest career win.

José Morgado

@josemorgado

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Tommy Paul comes back from 5-7, 5-6*, beats Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach in Stockholm the first ATP final of his career. Former Juniors GS champ will finish the year inside the top 50.