Frances Tiafoe has heaped praise on rival Tommy Ball after his latest win at the Shanghai Masters despite admitting he turned to Netflix mid-match. The American qualified through his third round match 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 against Chilean Alejandro Tabello, but the final result does not tell the story of his exciting uprising.
The No. 11 seed appeared to be faltering while trailing 5-2 in the second set, and had to save five match points before eventually forcing a tiebreaker.
He held his nerve to get through 8-6, then upped the ante in the second set to book his place in the last 16.
Tiafoe, who formed a close friendship with Paul on the ATP circuit, is trying to join his compatriot in the next round, which will take on Roman Saviolin. But despite being praised for his determination in his comeback win, it appears the 26-year-old never really believed a turnaround was possible.
“Braveheart,” he said. “I texted him this morning, Braveheart, man. I was watching, he lost the first game, and he wasn’t playing great, and he was a little weak. Then I saw he got broken early in the second, and I pulled a stop.” Kind of turned it on, so I watched some Netflix.
After realizing that Tabelo was about to win, Tiafoe admitted he went to bed before being pleasantly surprised when he woke up and checked the score again. “I looked back at the scores, it was now 5-2, and I thought, ‘Okay, it’s over. Go to sleep,'” he continued.
“I wake up, it’s like I’m taking a nap, I wake up, it’s 6-6 at break, so turn it on,” he continued. “I’ve got an eSIM on my phone now, so I feel like I’m back in America. I turn it on, 6-6, break wins.
“And I didn’t know he’d dropped five match points until today when he told me. Unbelievable effort. Those wins have gone a long way, and hopefully he’ll use that to keep going. I don’t know who he’ll be playing next, but that was big last night.”
The next round for Paul, ranked 11th in China, will be either Tomas Macak or qualifier Aleksandar Vukic. That match is scheduled to take place tomorrow, although it is vulnerable to delay due to the heavy rain that has afflicted the tournament so far.
Play was affected by rain for the third straight day on Monday, with the ATP Masters 1000 schedule reduced to nine singles matches. Matches scheduled for the day on outdoor courts have been cancelled, with matches only able to be played inside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, which is equipped with a retractable roof.
All canceled matches from Monday, which included Stefanos Tsitsipas’ meeting with Alexander Muller, were postponed until Tuesday, where the Greek star won late in straight sets. The tournament is scheduled to culminate in the final next Sunday, October 13.
