VIENNA (Dispatches) - The American showed why on Thursday evening when he staged an impressive rally from 0-3 down in the deciding set to stun top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals.
After a short lapse in the second set, Tsitsipas appeared to have regained his level as he sprinted through the first three games in the decider. But Tiafoe, who constantly engaged the Austrian crowd, battled back to triumph after one hour and 49 minutes.
It was a thrilling match with entertaining points throughout. But in the crucial moments, Tiafoe was the more decisive player, and that made the difference.
Tsitsipas double faulted to give Tiafoe the deciding break in the third set. Despite facing the pressure of serving out the match, the American played bold tennis to close things out, hitting a massive second serve at 30/15 and eliciting a return error on the next point to seal his victory.