Frances Tiafoe on Wednesday defeated 10th-seeded Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open.
The 14th-seeded American ended the 2021 champion’s eight-match winning streak to earn his first semi berth in a Masters 1000 tournament.
“Super happy about today,” Tiafoe said on court. “I’ve been playing really well all week. Let’s keep it going.”
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY
Tiafoe hit 22 winners and had just nine unforced errors. He punctuated the victory, which was briefly interrupted by rain, by serving a love game.
“I played really quick, really close to the baseline and I was pressuring him a lot,” Tiafoe said. “I didn’t allow him to extend points and I was being super active with my feet, being really aggressive.”
Tiafoe has not dropped a set in four matches during the tournament.
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY
He next faces No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5.
Medvedev won his 18th consecutive match and improved to 23-2 this year. He hurt his right ankle in a three-set win over Alexander Zverev a day earlier.
“When I warmed up it was hurting pretty bad, but I knew I was going to play,” Medvedev said.
However, his woes were not over. He fell on the court and opened a cut on his thumb in the sixth game of the second set. The cut was bandaged during a medical timeout.
Medvedev broke Davidovich Fokina at love to go up 6-5 before serving out the victory. Medvedev won 12 of the final 14 points.
In the women’s singles, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka won the final seven games of the match in defeating sixth-seeded Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-0 in the quarter-finals, while No. 7 Maria Sakkari outlasted 15th-seeded Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
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