Terence Atmane rallied past hometown favorite Frances Tiafoe in three sets on Monday night.
Frances Tiafoe’s annual stay at his hometown event has been cut short once again.
The American kicked off his tenth career appearance at the DC Open on Monday with a three-set loss to France’s Terence Atmane, 4-6 6-3 6-4.
A tough moment for the American, who longs to take home the title at the tournament he grew up watching. Whether it is nerves or lack of focus or a red-hot opponent, there always seems to be a hurdle too high for Tiafoe in the nation’s capital.
“My respect to him for winning the match, but very, very poor from my side,” Tiafoe said. “I thought I helped him get over the line today, for sure. A lot of mistakes. A lot of easy mistakes, especially on my backhand. Really poor performance in the last two sets from me.”
Atmane, a creative southpaw who packs a lot of firepower, gets his fourth biggest career win by ranking, and his first over Tiafoe in four tries. The world No.56 was dynamic from the service line, firing ten aces and winning 43 of 52 first serve points.
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And he delivered when he had to, notching the critical break for 5-4 in the third before serving out the contest with no fuss.
“After losing three times straight against Frances with three very big battles, I was just trying to stay locked in, trying to do my things, and just trying to truly believe that I could get it, that I could get this win,” he told reporters after the match. “I think that’s the reason why I’m here tonight.”
Tiafoe drops to 11-10 lifetime in DC. He has never been past the semifinals. The sting of the loss will take a while to wear off.
“Very disappointing,” he said. “Especially for the year that I’ve been having, super disappointing. Honestly, that’s all I can really say. I had a lot of high hopes. Yeah, this one hurts a lot.”
Fritz, Nishikori Advance
It wasn’t all bad for the Americans on Monday, as Taylor Fritz eased past Zizou Bergs on Stadium, 6-3, 6-4. The third-seeded American will face either Tommy Paul or Kamil Majchrzak in round two.
36-year-old Kei Nishikori, the 2015 champion in DC, also got through. Making his last ever appearance at the event, he edged China’s Shang Juncheng, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4.
Chris Oddo. Chris Oddo is a freelance sportswriter, podcaster, blogger and social media marker who is a lead contributor to Tennisnow.com. He also writes for USOpen.org, Rolandgarros.com, BNPParibasOpen.com, TennisTV.com, WTAtennis.com and the official US Open program.