Frances Tiafoe has reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final after defeating Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 at Indian Wells on Wednesday. The American tennis player will face Daniil Medvedev, who dispatched Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5.
Tifaoe makes it to Indian Wells semifinals
The match between Tiafoe and Norrie faced a rare rain delay that halted the play in the match’s early stages. After the delay, Tiafoe whipped a forehand crosscourt winner to break Norrie for a 4-3 lead. The dynamic Tiafoe fed off the energy of the supportive crowd and pressured Norrie into an error on set point by coming into the net.
Tiafoe saw his double break second-set lead whittled down to one when he double-faulted at 5-3. However, he managed to serve out the match on his next opportunity, unleashing a 139 mile per hour (224 km per hour) ace to set up match point before ending the affair when Norrie’s forehand sailed long.
Tiafoe’s Remarkable Form
Tiafoe is yet to drop a set at the tournament in the Southern California desert. He reached the semis of last year’s U.S. Open where he fell to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. “Today it is not just about getting to the semis, I am happy to beat a guy like that, who has been playing so well. At the end, it got a little tricky, but it was pretty much one-way traffic and I am really happy with where my game is at,” Tiafoe said.
Medvedev raced out to a 3-0 first set lead and crushed an ace to capture the opener as Davidovich Fokina searched for answers. In the more competitive second set, Medvedev required attention from a trainer to tape his bloody right thumb but the bandage did not hinder his shot-making.
The fifth-seeded Medvedev extended his winning streak to 18 matches with his victory over Davidovich Fokina in the breezy afternoon session. Medvedev is 4-0 against U.S. Open semifinalist Tiafoe, but they have not faced each other since the 2021 Miami Open.
Medvedev’s Praise for Tiafoe
“He’s playing great,” Medvedev said of Tiafoe. “Frances is a very pumped up, fire player, so he can beat anyone on a good day. I’m sure he can beat Novak (Djokovic), Rafal (Nadal).
“He actually did beat Rafa at the U.S. Open, which is huge. I need to try my best to keep this head-to-head at zero. That’s never easy, but I just have to show my best tennis and try to beat such a great opponent.”
The loss snapped Norrie’s eight-match winning streak. The tournament’s 2021 champion won a title in Rio de Janeiro last month and has a 21-4 win-loss record for the year. Frances Tiafoe has set up an exciting match against Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells
