WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Frances Tiafoe followed his victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray by beating Thiago Monteiro 7-5, 7-6 (2) on Wednesday night in the third round of the Winston-Salem Open.
The 23-year-old American, ranked No. 51 in the world, won the first set by breaking Monteiro in the 12th game. He nearly did it again in the second by winning the first two points on Monteiro’s serve, only to have Monteiro respond with back-to-back aces to ultimately force the tiebreak.
Once there, Tiafoe jumped to 2-0 and 5-1 leads to take control on the way to winning a match after holding serve throughout.
That came one day after Tiafoe saved three set points in the first set on the way to beating Murray 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Top-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain reached the quarterfinals earlier Wednesday, with the world No. 12-ranked player beating 16th-seeded Dominik Koepfer 6-2, 6-3. But 35-year-old Richard Gasquet (ranked No. 82, seeded 14th) beat third-seeded Daniel Evans 6-4, 7-6 (4) to take out the world’s 27th-ranked player.
Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff and France’s Benoit Paire joined the list of seeded players to lose in Winston-Salem’s round of 16. Belarus’ Ilya Ivashka beat the ninth-seeded Struff 6-2, 6-1, and Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori edged the 12th-seeded Paire 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
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