The last four remaining at the Delray Beach Open are all Americans, including second seed Frances Tiafoe, who advanced to his first semi-final of the year Friday, when he raced past Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 6-2.
Tiafoe won 23 of his 29 first-serve points and was rock solid from the baseline to collect back-to-back match wins for the first time since Vienna last year. Tiafoe's 68-minute victory also ended his five-match skid in tour-level quarter-finals.
"Overall, I thought I played well. I thought I served much better today," Tiafoe said. "He's played a lot of matches going through qualies, so I definitely wanted to get on him early and make it tough for him. I'm really happy with my performance today and I'm excited for tomorrow."
The 26-year-old will next clash against third seed Tommy Paul, who leads their Lexus ATPHead2Head series 2-1. Paul, who last week won the Dallas Open, defeated Australian Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-3 in Friday's quarters, extending his winning streak to six.
"I thought I kept it cool today and held my own on my serve, I think that was really important," said Paul, who dropped just five points behind his first delivery (23/28).
Defending champion Taylor Fritz is into his first semi-final since Washington, D.C. last year after the American No. 1 downed Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-3 to close Friday's action. Fritz, who converted his fifth set point to gain a one-set advantage, pinned the 22-year-old Hijikata deep beyond the baseline and struck the ball with conviction to advance after one hour, 14 minutes.
"It's always a great feeling to just be so into the serve rhythm," said Fritz, who did not face a break point all match. "The quality of the serves I was hitting was also good, so that's an added bonus to a high percentage."
Fritz will next meet fellow California native Marcos Giron, who dispatched Patrick Kypson 6-4, 6-4 to earn his second consecutive semi-final appearance, having finished runner-up in Dallas last week. Giron's strong start to the year has lifted him to a career-high No. 44 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
Did You Know?
Saturday will mark the first all-American semi-finals in Delray Beach Open history and the fourth all-American tour-level semi-final lineup since 2000 (Dallas 2022, San Jose 2004, Memphis 2003).
