As Frances Tiafoe makes his seventh career appearance at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, an elusive title at his hometown tournament remains a bucket-list item.
“This tournament is one of the reasons why I play pro tennis,” Tiafoe said this weekend. “To have my name around the stadium, I mean, I used to sneak into this thing as a kid. Now, I just really want to win this event.”
That quest begins in primetime Tuesday in a second-round showdown on Stadium Court against Aslan Karatsev (7 pm.). The second-seeded Tiafoe received a first-round bye, while Karatsev moved on with a straight-sets win Monday over qualifier Kiranpal Pannu.
Tiafoe is coming off his best run in Washington when he had six match points in the quarterfinals last year only to fall to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios.
The run in DC was seemingly the springboard for the best 12 months of his career to date complete with a semifinal appearance at the US Open, titles in Houston and Stuttgart and a career-high World No.10 ranking.
“This year for sure, everyone's expecting, you know, a big run,” Tiafoe said. “Obviously last year, a really tough loss to [Kyrgios]. But, definitely expecting a very good run. It's going to be an amped crowd. I feel like I'm going to rise to the occasion.”
Should Tiafoe advance, a potential Round-of-16 matchup looms with American wild card Ben Shelton. Shelton takes on qualifier Juncheng Shang Tuesday in the opening match on Stadium Court (12 p.m.).
That will be followed by a mid-afternoon showdown between No.5 seed Grigor Dimitrov and American Mackenzie McDonald. McDonald, the 2021 DC finalist, cruised to a straight-sets win over former World No.8 Diego Schwartzman on Stadium Court Monday.
The first women’s match on Stadium Court Tuesday pits DC native Hailey Baptiste against former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova (not before 4 p.m.). The winner of the Baptiste-Pliskova would advance to face No.3 seed Coco Gauff in a second-round blockbuster.
Baptiste was raised within walking distance of the Rock Creek Tennis Center and grew up attending the tournament as a fan. As a 17-year-old in 2019, Baptiste made her WTA debut in front of friends and family and earned her first career win with a first-round upset of Madison Keys.
Keys will be part of featured nightcap on Stadium Court Tuesday when she takes on Qinwen Zheng.
