Frances Tiafoe edged past Aleksander Kovacevic 7-5 3-6 6-3 to reach the round of 16 at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.
Kovacevic saved three break points in the first game of the opening set. Tiafoe broke in the 11th game to win the first set 7-5.
Kovacevic earned her first break in the second game tp win the second set 6-3 forcing the match to the decider.
Tiafoe earned the decisive break in the seventh game of the third set and closed out in the next game with an ace on his second match point. Tiafoe won 87% of his first serve points. The US player has reached at least the quarter finals in the past three years.
“I didn’t play the best today, but I want to win more like that. No excuses, find ways to win and you have a chance to play better in the next one”, said Tiafoe.
Tiafoe set up a Round of 16 match against this year’s Wimbledon quarter finalist Flavio Cobolli, who beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2 7-6 (7-3). Tiafoe leads 1-0 in his only head-to-head match against Cobolli.
Cobolli broke serve in the third game of the first set to take a 2-1 lead. Nishioka broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Cobolli broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to win the first set 6-2. Nishioka broke in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set. Cobolli broke back in the fifth game and held serve at 15 to draw level to 3-3. Cobolli earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3.
Taylor Fritz cruised past Aleksanadar Vukic 6-3 6-2. Fritz earned three breaks (one in the first set and two in the second set).
Danil Medvedev came back from one set down to beat Reilly Opelka 3-6 7-5 6-1. Opelka broke once in the second game to win the first set 6-3. Medvedve Medvedev sealed the second set with a break in the 12th game to close out the second set 7-5. The Russian player broke twice in the second and sixth games of the third set.
Learner Tien upset Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-2. Tien broke Rublev four times.
Alex De Minaur held off Yunchakoete Bu in a hrad-fought first set before pulling away to 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win.
Jiri Lehechka battled past US Zachary Svajda 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 in a hard-fought match.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina eased past Jaume Munar 6-4 6-2.
