Frances Tiafoe and Holger Rune will lock horns in the Cincinnati Open semifinal. Both men came through straightforward wins in their respective last-eight encounters late on Friday.
First through, Rune beat Jack Draper 6-3, 6-2 to book a spot in his first Cincinnati Open semifinal. Prior to this year, he had never moved past the second round at the tournament.
The Dane had opened his campaign with a topsy-turvy three-set win over Matteo Berrettini before taking out Nuno Borges in straight sets. Another test followed in the form of Gael Monfils, but he survived in 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 marathon.
Tiafoe, meanwhile, has had a similarly up-and-down week in Cincinnati, where he opened his campaign with a tight two-set win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The American then ran into Paris Olympics bronze medallist Lorenzo Mussetti and showcased his hardcourt prowess by taking out the Italian with relative ease 6-3, 6-2.
The toughest test for Tiafoe came in the Round of 16 when he took on Jiri Lehecka. The two battled in a grueling tussle which saw the home favorite eventually prevail 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5).
Tiafoe’s quarterfinal ended up being a truncated affair with fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz retiring after losing the first set 6-3.
Rune and Tiafoe will now step out onto Center Court on Saturday, looking to book a spot in the Cincinnati Open final. The winner will then take on either top seed and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, or Alexander Zverev for the title in Sunday's final.
Frances Tiafoe vs Holger Rune Cincinnati Open SF schedule
Fixture: Frances Tiafoe vs (15) Holger Rune
Time: Not before 6 pm (local time)
Venue: Center Court, Lindner Family Tennis Center, Mason, Ohio
Where to watch
Viewers in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, India and Canada can watch the Cincinnati Open live on the following channels and sites:
USA: All matches for the Cincinnati Open will be broadcast on Tennis Channel.
UK: Fans in the UK can watch the proceedings live on Amazon Prime Video.
Australia: All matches will be telecast on beIN Sports.
Canada: Viewers in Canada can watch all the matches on TSN.
India: Live action from the the Cincinnati Open will be available for streaming on SonyLiv.