Frances Tiafoe shocks Sascha Zverev in Cincinnati.

In this 2nd round match, the American didn’t lose faith in his chances when he predictably lost the opening set before grabbing a strong 3-0 lead in the second (2 breaks up) and bring the affair to the decider. When Zverev broke Frances in the first game of the third set, everything looked set for a smooth win for the German, but Tiafoe refused to bend, and he broke back Zverev soon after. The decider went down to a dogfight, and it was the German to succumb after he dropped his last service game at 15. The final result was 4-6 6-3 6-4. The match lasted 1 hour and 56 minutes.

3 reasons why this is not a huge surprise

Even if this is a clear upset, it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. In fact, first Alexander has never hidden the thing that after winning two prestigious events (Washington and Montreal) back to back he feels tired. Second, the German has some problems in finding his rhythm in the opening matches of his tournaments. Finally, Tiafoe is a very good player that has the potential to create big upsets.

These are wins that can change your career. TIAFOE

Soon after the match, Frances commented

“These are wins that definitely can change your career the right way. This is a big relief for me. We grew up together playing junior Grand Slams, playing Under-12s, Under-14s. I have known him for forever. Seeing him rise like that, I was, like, ‘Maybe I can do the same.’ Then he beat me twice, and I was, like, ‘All right, maybe I can’t.’ So, me beating him today made me feel pretty good.”

Next vs. Isner

Frances will play his compatriot John Isner in the 3^rd round. The head to head is 1-0 for John that has defeated Frances in the first round of the US Open last year coming back from a 0-2 sets deficit.