Brandon Nakashima continued his torrid run on North American hard courts Friday, upsetting sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
Next up for the 27th-seeded Nakashima is an all-American clash with 17th-seeded Frances Tiafoe, who defeated 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-6 (2), 7-5 later Friday night.
Nakashima, who advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 final last week in Montreal, has qualified for the semifinals at consecutive Masters 1000 events.
“Just getting a lot of confidence from all the matches I have been playing,” Nakashima said. “When it came down to the wire in the third set, just tried to trust my game fully and just really proud of how I ended the match.”
Fritz dominated behind his first serve early, losing just three such points and recording 14 aces in the opening set. Nakashima nevertheless stayed with him through a marathon tiebreaker.
The pivotal point came with the tiebreaker tied 4-4, when Nakashima prevailed in a 32-shot rally. Fritz later held a set point at 7-6, but Nakashima erased it and eventually converted his fifth opportunity to take the opener 11-9.
Fritz responded by securing the only break of the second set and carried that momentum into the decider, breaking Nakashima for a 3-2 advantage.
Nakashima did not lose another game.
He immediately broke back, held to move ahead and then broke Fritz again for a 5-3 lead before serving out the victory. The win improved Nakashima to 2-4 in their head-to-head series after Fritz beat him in Dallas in February and again in the Washington semifinals earlier this month.
“In the match in Washington against Fritz, I felt like from the baseline I wasn’t playing that well,” Nakashima said. “Today I was trying to hit the forehand a little bigger and tried staying solid on the backhand and I think that is what got me through.”
Nakashima now owns a tour-leading 22 hard-court victories this season. He entered Cincinnati at a career-high No. 22 in the ATP rankings and climbed to No. 16 in the live rankings with Friday’s win.
In the other Friday match, Tiafoe produced 36 winners to just 17 for Musetti. That was enough to offset the American committing 38 unforced errors to the Italian’s 22.
“I just gotta play to win,” Tiafoe said post-match. “We’re all just (searching for that) 1%, trying to figure it out. The guy who plays a little more brave at certain moments gets it. I was hitting my shots great tonight. From the back of the court I’ve been playing really well, so I was counting on that.”
Tiafoe enters play Saturday with a 6-1 edge in matches against Nakashima. The only previous time the two faced off this year, Tiafoe won in three sets in the semifinal at Acapulco, Mexico.
Tiafoe earned his fourth career ATP Tour title this summer when he won the grass-court event in Halle, Germany.
–Field Level Media
