Third seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States beat Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic 7-6 6-3 in the second round of the BOSS Open in Stuttgart on Wednesday, June 14th. The match lasted for around two hours, as the 25-year-old American managed to keep his nose ahead until the end.
However, the 21-year-old Czech gave a fair indication of the huge potential he has and did not give up without a fight. Tiafoe will now take on Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the quarterfinal on Friday. The hard-hitting American will start as the favorite against the Italian, who is more comfortable playing on clay.
Both players dominated with their serves:
Both Tiafoe and Lehecka are big servers and dominated with their serves throughout the match. They hit nine and eight aces, respectively, and the only break of serve in the match occurred in the ninth game of the second set.
Lehecka and Tiafoe won 85% and 84% of the points on their first serves, respectively, which goes on to show the extent of dominance they had with their serves. However, the Czech could win only 50% of the points on his second delivery, while the American managed a far better 77%. That made the difference in the end.
Frances Tiafoe’s ability to take the ball early helped him:
The American kept taking the ball early with his forehand from the baseline and moved the Czech all over the court. He also rushed the net quite often to dispatch winners with volleys. The match saw some heavy hitting by both the players, but Tiafoe was more dominant from the forecourt.
However, the American also supplied the Czech with a lot of short balls for the latter to hit for winners. Still, the American played better in the tie-break in the first set and then got the crucial break of serve in the second set, too. In a closely-contested match, those were the margins one needed to prevail.
Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
