Atlanta Open: Tiafoe pushed to third set in win over Karatsev, advances to quarterfinals

ATLANTA – Francis Tiafoe’s dominant serve helped him to an early lead against Aslan Karatsev in the final set. Tiafoe did not look back and went on to win the final set 6-3. Much anticipation and hype surrounded Tiafoe heading into the Atlanta Open as the headline. After coming off of a tough loss at Wimbledon against eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz, he wanted to start off strong. Tiafoe did just that, winning the first set 6-4. The second set proved to be too tall of a task to overcome early on. After going down 3-0, Tiafoe managed to get one point in an attempt to make a rally. Karatsav won the next point and won the second set 6-3. “I think [I] was a little loose,” Tiafoe said when asked about the difference in his play in the second set. “I played a bad game at 1-0. A lot of loose errors. I think he didn’t break me, I broke myself. I had two break points to get it back and didn’t get it. I still felt like I was the better player in the set but a little loose for me.” After the second set, Tiafoe changed shirts, rehydrated...