Two Wins In One Day: Tiafoe Into Houston SFs

American Frances Tiafoe completed double duty Saturday to reach the Houston semi-finals.

Two-and-a-half hours after his second-round 6-2, 6-4 victory against Steve Johnson, the top-seeded Tiafoe returned to court and ousted Australian Jason Kubler 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals at the Fayez Sarofim & Co U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship.

“I haven’t played two matches in one day in a long time,” Tiafoe said. “I thought it was unbelievable how I was able to come out here and play so well.

“The ball was going much more [faster], it was much warmer [than earlier], I was sweating a lot more. Obviously a totally different player. [Jason] has been playing well, he’s played a lot lately, so I knew he was going to come after me. It was a good match.”

The World No. 15 delivered a strong serving performance, winning 28 of 31 points off his first delivery to down sixth seed Kubler in one hour, 28 minutes. Tiafoe will next meet countryman and fifth seed J.J. Wolf or Dutchman Gijs Brouwer in the last four.

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After rain cancelled much of play the past three days at the ATP 250, Saturday's action included second-round matches and quarter-finals at River Oaks Country Club. The Houston semi-finals and final will be held Sunday. 

In his first tour-level event as the top seed, Tiafoe is eyeing his second title (Delray Beach, 2018). Should the 25-year-old win the ATP 250 crown, he would rise to a career-high No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.