Frances Tiafoe seems to go the distance in many matches when playing at his hometown D.C. Open. His second round tilt with Flavio Cobolli, a Washington finalist last year, finally was a welcome exception.
The sixth-seeded Hyattsville native breezed though to his fourth-straight D.C. quarterfinal, 6-1, 6-4, over the ninth-seeded Cobolli on a sun-drenched Thursday evening at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.
“It’s who my personality is, my game style. Very exciting and unpredictable. Do anything at any time,” Tiafoe said. “Whether it works or doesn’t, I’m dangerous. I’m a dangerous player.”
After a dragging, three-set win Wednesday night over Aleks Kovacevic that even Tiafoe admitted “didn’t think [it ]had much in it,” he made quick work in dispatching Cobolli. In the first set, Tiafoe broke Cobolli on each of his three service games and would have bageled him had he not given away a game on serve early in the set.
“I feel good,” Tiafoe said. “It was weird early in the match. Tough first game. A lot of mistakes. Not many first serves from both of us.”
The second featured more of the same, with Tiafoe converting the second break point on Cobolli in the first game, then holding at love to consolidate — the only break he would need en route to closing out the match. His two wins this week are his first consecutive hard-court wins since reaching the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open, where he lost to this year’s D.C. top seed, Taylor Fritz.
“I thought I got in a great rhythm at the end, second set on my serve,” Tiafoe said. “I returned well, got balls on him quick. He just really didn’t feel comfortable … I thought I did a better job in the first couple of shots in each point.”
Tiafoe will next face his friend and doubles partner this week, fourth-seeded Ben Shelton, for the fourth time in an all-American showdown Friday. Tiafoe advanced to the D.C. semifinals last year for the first time, but has lost to the eventual champion in each of the last three years.
“It’s going to be awesome. We obviously wanted to play each other in the final here last year. Didn’t work out. Happy to play him. We are such good friends,” Tiafoe said of Shelton, who has a connection to D.C. via his girlfriend, Washington Spirit and U.S. Women’s National Team star Trinity Rodman.
“With that friendship, we have a great rivalry, and we don’t want to lose to each other,” Tiafoe said.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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