AMERICAN Frances Tiafoe has had a rough 2024 ATP Tour season, with the former Top 20 talent boasting a rather averaged 19-18 win-loss record. However returning back to his home nation, the United States representative was able to kick off the Cincinnati Open with a bang, defeating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets.

Taking an hour and 44 minutes to get up, Tiafoe won 6-3 7-6 over the Spaniard having to fight thrugh a tough second set. He created three match points in the second when up 5-4, but Davidovich Fokina was able to steady and then force an eventual tiebreaker. At one stage in the tiebreaker, the Spaniard was up 6-5 with a set point to send the match to decider, but Tiafoe won the last three points to take out the win.

Tiafoe said it was far from an easy match, with Davidovich Fokina a tough first round opponent.

“I thought he played some pretty good points. Other than the return I had on my racquet, the other two he played some good points,” he said post-match. “He’s a Spaniard and they fight until the end, so I kind of knew that going in and wasn’t too surprised.

“Obviously, you want to get it done there. It’s a good first-round win for me. Quality player, been around for a while, and he wins a lot of matches out here on the Tour, so it was a good win.”

Tiafoe’s win saw him bounce back from a first round exit in Montreal last week, having gone deep in the other Central American tournametns thus far in 2024. A semi-finalist at the US Open, Tiafoe is determined to improve his past lack of success in Cincinnati where he holds a 7-7 win-loss record.

“I haven’t played well here at all,” Tiafoe said. “I think I’ve made one third round. I’ve lost on this court a lot. But just going day by day, having fun. It’s time for me to get back to winning matches more consistently. I lost two in a row, so this was big to not lose three in a row.”

Tiafoe will take on Italian talent Lorenzo Musetti – coming off a bronze medal at the Olympics – after he managed to grind past Chilean Nicolas Jarry in just under three hours, 4-6 7-6 7-6.

AROUND THE COURTS

Aussie Jordan Thompson made his way into the second round with a hard-fought two-hour and 32-minute win over Frenchman Ugo Humbert. He was joined in the next round by Zhizhen Zhang who took down another Frenchman in towering Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 6-3 7-6.

It was a fairly good day for the Americans with Next Gen prospect and qualifier Alex Michelsen defeating Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, while Ben Shelton knocked off countryman and wildcard Reilly Opelka in a predictable two tiebreakers for the big serving duo.

In other results, Argentinian Sebastian Baez inflicted the first defeat for the home crowd by getting the better of Marcos Giron across three sets, while Czech Jiri Lehecka and Italian Luciano Darderi were also among the earlier winners of the day.