Houston
Tien ‘doubles clay Ws’ in Houston; Tiafoe wins in entrance of Kevin Durant
American is into tenth Tour-level QF
April 03, 2026
Kenneth Richmond/Getty Photos
Third seed Learner Tien is into the Houston quarter-finals.
By ATP Workers
Learner Tien superior to his maiden ATP Tour clay-court quarter-final on the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Males’s Clay Court docket Championship on Thursday when he downed Nishesh Basavareddy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Following his win, the 20-year-old hilariously signed the digital camera lens, “Doubled my clay Ws right this moment”, referring to his 1-6 tour-level clay-court document getting into the ATP 250.
Tien created 15 break possibilities, changing three, based on Infosys ATP Stats, to enhance to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head collection with Basavareddy.
“I believed my power dropped a bit of bit within the second and he began taking part in significantly better clearly,” Tien stated in his on-court interview. “I used to be simply attempting to come back out and never get damaged within the first recreation [of the third set]. Simply proud of how I raised my power degree and my general taking part in within the third.”
Up subsequent for the third seed is Roman Andres Burruchaga, who overcame Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Second seed Frances Tiafoe started his Houston marketing campaign with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory in opposition to Australian Rinky Hijikata. With NBA star Kevin Durant amongst these in attendance, the 2023 champion Tiafoe displayed his trademark shotmaking capacity all through the two-hour, 28-minute conflict.
Enjoying his first clay-court match since reaching the Roland Garros quarter-finals final season, Tiafoe is into the Houston quarter-finals for the fifth consecutive 12 months.
“First match on clay was undoubtedly humorous, I used to be nonetheless doing a little stuff I used to be doing on a tough court docket simply attempting to get my ft underneath me,” stated Tiafoe. “However it’s good. I obtained to play a pair hours out right here. I’m pleased to get by and get one other likelihood to play a bit higher tomorrow.”
The 28-year-old Tiafoe is 14-0 after successful the primary set this season.
