Forgive Me Father
Hall of Fame
Many of you probably did not see this match, but this match deserves some recognition.
It was problem-solving Tiafoe at his best.
Because to be quite frank, Tiafoe was outplayed for a long time. Until the very end, he was barely winning points on return.
But he hung in there and was very clutch. His two points when down 5-4 on the Nakashima serve in the TB were excellent.
To illustrate how clutchly Tiafoe pulled this match out of his ass:
Nakashima won 10 more points (92 to 82), the 1st serve points won was similar but on 2nd serve: Nakashima won 73% and Tiafoe won 47%.
1st set: Nakashima lost 2 points on serve (5 service games)
3rd set: Through 8 games Nakashima lost 1 point on serve, Tiafoe lost 6 points on serve.
Then Tiafoe broke.
While it's a tough loss for Nakashima, Tiafoe really deserved this one. He's had some tough draws to start the year, and as usual is much better than what his record suggests.
He is now rewarded with a R3 match-up against JM Cerundolo.
It was problem-solving Tiafoe at his best.
Because to be quite frank, Tiafoe was outplayed for a long time. Until the very end, he was barely winning points on return.
But he hung in there and was very clutch. His two points when down 5-4 on the Nakashima serve in the TB were excellent.
To illustrate how clutchly Tiafoe pulled this match out of his ass:
Nakashima won 10 more points (92 to 82), the 1st serve points won was similar but on 2nd serve: Nakashima won 73% and Tiafoe won 47%.
1st set: Nakashima lost 2 points on serve (5 service games)
3rd set: Through 8 games Nakashima lost 1 point on serve, Tiafoe lost 6 points on serve.
Then Tiafoe broke.
While it's a tough loss for Nakashima, Tiafoe really deserved this one. He's had some tough draws to start the year, and as usual is much better than what his record suggests.
He is now rewarded with a R3 match-up against JM Cerundolo.
