Defending champ Tiafoe battles to 'huge' Houston win

Frances Tiafoe advanced to his third straight quarter-final at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship with a battling win against James Duckworth on Thursday evening.

The American snapped a two-match losing streak with a 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5 victory to improve to 8-7 on the season. He did not face a break point and hit 15 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, competing for two hours, 15 minutes to kickstart his title defence.

"Every win is big right now, to just kind of build it. Tonight was huge," Tiafoe said.

The 26-year-old converted on his first two break chances of the match to claim a straightforward opening set. Duckworth took the second-set tie-break with aggressive hitting in the pressure moments, then fought off two break points in the second before succumbing to Tiafoe's late surge.

"I wish I won in straights, but I definitely played pretty well," assessed the No. 21 in the PIF ATP Rankings. "I thought I played really well in the first set. He can serve really well. I had some chances, some break points, but good serves from him and he really made it tough for me.

"I served great, I didn't get broken the whole match, didn't face a break point. You take those. I definitely wanted to stay in Houston, I didn't want to lose tonight."

After earning the win in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Australia's Duckworth since the pair split two 2015 matches, Tiafoe will meet Aussie Jordan Thompson in Friday's quarter-finals.

Thompson saved three match points in a 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(7) victory against American Aleksandar Kovacevic that finished after midnight at the ATP 250. Clocking in at three hours, 34 minutes, the marathon match set a new mark for longest in the tournament's recorded history.

"I was up against it for most of the match. I was really struggling on serve but somehow found a way," said the sixth seed. "I guess that's the beauty of clay, it's just a long gruel."

The Aussie saved the first of those match points on serve at 5-6 in the second set and fought off another two — one on serve and another on return — at 5/6 and 6/7 in the third-set tie-break. He sealed the victory with his third ace of the match, avenging a February defeat to the American in Acapulco.

The week before Acapulco, Thompson saved three match points to beat Alex Michelsen en route to his first ATP Tour title in Los Cabos. He also erased three match points to beat Rafael Nadal to start the 2024 season is Brisbane. But the 29-year-old is hoping to kick that habit with more straightforward wins in the future.

"To be honest, I think it's just making me tired and upset and not happy," he said of his penchant for long-running thrillers. "So hopefully they don't keep happening."

Etcheverry 🤝 Clay 🧱

He takes the first set 6-4 against Galan 🔥@mensclaycourt | #USClay pic.twitter.com/61PHnTixZ9

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 4, 2024

Earlier on Thursday, fourth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry and American Michael Mmoh both advanced in straight sets to set up a quarter-final meeting.

Etcheverry scored a 6-4, 6-4 win against Daniel Elahi Galan despite throwing up by his bench just before coming out to serve for the match. The Argentine advanced to his 10th tour-level quarter-final by improving to 10-4 in his opening matches on clay since the start of 2023.

Mmoh upset eighth seed Max Purcell 6-2, 7-5, saving the lone break point against him. He and Tiafoe are among five Americans in the Houston quarter-finals, with Kovacevic seeking to make it six from the home nation among the last eight.