On what was a real marathon day at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN, Frances Tiafoe became the last player to secure a place in the semi-finals. Late on Friday evening, the American prevailed 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(12) against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime. The world number 26 didn’t convert his fifth match point until 10.45 pm.
Great tennis, thrilling rallies and, above all, plenty of excitement: the tournament’s final quarter-final slotted seamlessly into the previous matches, in which Taylor Fritz (against Ben Shelton), Alexander Zverev (against Raphael Collignon) and Daniel Altmaier (against Daniil Medvedev) had already secured their places in the semi-finals.
In typical grass-court style, the servers dominated the match between Auger-Aliassime and Tiafoe for long stretches. In each of the first two sets, it was a single break that proved decisive. In the first set, it was the number two seed, Auger-Aliassime, who broke serve to go 3–1 up and served out the set decisively to win 6–3. The second set unfolded in exactly the opposite way: Tiafoe took a 3–1 lead with a delicate volley, before levelling the match 6–3 after 1 hour and 18 minutes.
To round off a long day of tennis – eleven hours were played that Friday in the sweltering heat of Halle – there was a decisive third set. In that set, both servers held their serve, meaning a tie-break had to decide the outcome. This took the drama to a fever pitch. Match points came and went on both sides, whilst the players produced their best tennis under immense pressure. Ultimately, it was Tiafoe who converted his fifth match point to win 14–12, having saved two match points himself.
In Saturday’s semi-final, Frances Tiafoe will now face local favourite Daniel Altmaier. The match will take place on Centre Court at the heristo-arena as the second match after 3 pm. Before that, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz will battle it out to become the first finalist.
