Tiafoe units Sinner Miami QF showdown with late escape, Zverev wins in two tie-breaks

Match Report

Tiafoe units Sinner Miami QF showdown with late escape, Zverev wins in two tie-breaks

Tiafoe’s emotional week continues

March 25, 2026

After saving two match factors to beat defending champion Jakub Mensik on Monday, Frances Tiafoe stared down 0/40 at 4-4 within the remaining set Tuesday night time in opposition to Terence Atmane on the Miami Open introduced by Itau.

However by as soon as once more “being current” within the second, the American escaped that jam and surged to a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory, advancing to his fifth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final and his first since Cincinnati in 2024.

“I did a number of work in being snug being uncomfortable, and I put myself in these positions typically,” Tiafoe stated of his late escape. “It is like whenever you’re operating a bunch of sprints, you are not eager about the 15 extra you have to do. You consider the one forward. And in order that’s form of the place I used to be at.

“Down 0/40, fear about 0/40, down 15/40, fear about 15/40, and so forth and so forth. Finally, simply be the place your toes are.”

The victory arrange a quarter-final showdown on house soil in opposition to Jannik Sinner for Tiafoe, who holds a 1-4 Lexus ATP Head2Head file in opposition to the Italian.

Whereas Tiafoe was not thrilled along with his tennis in opposition to Atmane, and is aware of he’ll have to play higher in opposition to the No. 2 participant within the PIF ATP Rankings, he was joyful along with his capability to grind out the consequence. “Emotionally I used to be a bit spent from yesterday, clearly,” he stated. “Bodily, I am feeling fairly good, however extra on the emotional facet… however nonetheless successful anyway. Nobody cares.”

Alexander Zverev closed Tuesday’s play with a 7-6(4), 7-6(1) victory in opposition to Quentin Halys. The 2018 Miami finalist has now reached the quarter-finals or higher in six of the previous seven ATP Masters 1000s; he is additionally superior to the quarters at each Indian Wells and Miami in the identical season for the second time (2024).

By beating the No. 111 participant within the PIF ATP Rankings, the German prolonged his successful streak in opposition to gamers exterior the Prime 100 to 16 matches, courting again to 2024.

For the second time in his three Miami matches, Zverev received with out going through a break level: “It is a shot that is working effectively and I hope will proceed to work effectively,” he stated of his booming serve after hitting 16 aces, in keeping with Infosys ATP Stats. “As we speak, each of us have been serving large. I did not have many break probabilities.”

By to the final eight for the fifth time in Miami 👏@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen | @AlexZverev pic.twitter.com/a69phqhUEy

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 25, 2026

The German earned six break probabilities on return — 4 at 5-5 within the first set and two that doubled as match factors at 5-4 within the second. Whereas he couldn’t convert within the face of huge serving from Halys, he made amends by leaping out to early leads in each tie-breaks.

Subsequent up for Zverev is Francisco Cerundolo, who superior to his fourth Miami quarter-final in 5 tries with a 6-4, 6-3 win in opposition to Ugo Humbert.