Halys saves four match points to upset Tiafoe at Paris Masters
Quentin Halys saved four match points to beat seventh seed Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 at the Paris Masters on Wednesday, Tennis Majors and Mint report. The win ended Tiafoe's hopes of a place at the ATP Finals. It also sent Arthur Fils to the season-ending event in Turin.
Frenchman Quentin Halys beat American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday, Tennis Majors and Mint report. Tennis Majors gives the final tie-break score as 11-9.
Halys saved four match points in the tie-break, Tennis Majors and Mint report. Tennis Majors says he broke Tiafoe as the American served for the match, then won the tie-break on his own first match point. The match took two hours, it says.
Halys, ranked No. 46 in the world, took the first set behind a strong serve, Mint reports. Tiafoe hit back to win the second set 6-1 before the tight third set.
Tennis Majors calls it Halys's biggest win. Mint calls it one of the biggest upsets of the event.
The result settled a place at the ATP Finals in Turin. Arthur Fils qualified with the Halys win, Tennis Majors and Mint report. Fils is the first Frenchman to qualify since Gael Monfils in 2016, they say.
Tiafoe was eighth in the race to Turin and was chasing his first trip to the event, Tennis Majors reports. He lost the Cincinnati final to Fils in August, it says.
Halys will face American 12th seed Tommy Paul in the last 16, Tennis Majors reports. “It’ll be a similar style of game: an American who serves very well, who also moves very well,” Halys said of Paul.
What we know: Halys beat Tiafoe in a final-set tie-break, and Fils has qualified for Turin.
What we don't: How Halys will fare against Paul in the next round.
Where outlets agree Tennis Majors and Mint report that Halys saved four match points and that the result sent Fils to the ATP Finals.
Where they differ Mint calls Tiafoe the seventh seed and later the eighth seed and says Halys reached the third round, while Tennis Majors calls Tiafoe the seventh seed and the next match the last 16.