ATP Tour

Tiafoe upsets Auger-Aliassime in R4, Fritz joins elite American list in Cincinnati

Frances Tiafoe notched a milestone victory at the Cincinnati Open Wednesday, when he delivered a composed performance to upset second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

With the victory, the 28-year-old advanced to his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season, having also reached the last eight in Miami. It is the first time in his career that Tiafoe has reached multiple Masters 1000 quarter-finals in a single season.

The No. 23 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Tiafoe capitalised on Auger-Aliassime's uncharacteristic lapses throughout the clash, with the Canadian committing 37 unforced errors to Tiafoe's 16. Despite landing only 44 per cent (28/64) of his first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats, Tiafoe stamped his authority from the baseline to return to the last eight in Cincinnati for the first time since 2024, when he reached the final.

"I returned pretty well tonight," Tiafoe said following his win. "Super solid from the back of the court. Didn't have many errors there... I just tried to make it tough for him. Make him play a lot of balls, play fast and rushed him a little bit and I did a great job of it. Pretty happy with how I played."

Two weeks ago in Montreal, Tiafoe retired from his third-round match due to injury. The 28-year-old has since bounced back in Cincinnati, defeating Lorenzo Sonego, Learner Tien and now second seed Auger-Aliassime. By overcoming the Canadian, Tiafoe improved to 2-3 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

The next challenge for Tiafoe will be 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who earlier in the day defeated Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 7-5, 6-2 in 75 minutes. With the triumph, the Italian advanced to the quarter-finals at a Masters 1000 event for the first time since Rome last year.

In other action, sixth seed Taylor Fritz eased past Christopher O'Connell 6-4, 6-3 to return to the last eight in Cincinnati for the first time since 2023. With his one-hour, 17-minute victory, the 28-year-old, who also advanced to this stage in 2022, became the fourth American man to reach at least three Cincinnati quarter-finals this century after Andy Roddick (6), Mardy Fish (4) and John Isner (3).

Fritz has now earned eight straight wins on American soil, having captured the Washington title earlier this month. Standing between the 28-year-old and a semi-final spot in Cincinnati will be countryman Brandon Nakashima, whom he defeated earlier this month in Washington.

Nakashima, who saved three match points against Daniil Medvedev in the third round, continued his run with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 win against Nuno Borges. The big-serving American fired 27 aces en route to his two-hour, 20-minute triumph. With the victory, Nakashima advanced to his first quarter-final in Cincinnati, one week after reaching his first Masters 1000 final in Montreal.

"I have been feeling great in the last few weeks," Nakashima said following his victory. "My team and I put in a lot of hard work. The mentality has been very important. Just getting a lot of confidence out here and really trusting my game when it matters."