Frances Tiafoe battles past Sebastian Korda in Indian Wells all-American clash

It promised to be a very entertaining match and the desert showdown certainly delivered. Any match that has Frances Tiafoe usually does and the American was on full display early in the match. Seizing an opportunity he took an early 2-0 lead over Korda who was a bit off to start the match. It turned out he was plenty off as Tiafoe raced away with the set 6-0.

Tiafoe was thriving in rather slow conditions which allowed the super quick American to cover the court extremely well. Korda found himself misfiring often early and that proved his undoing. His precision was better to start the 2nd set as he was able to take 2-0 lead early in the 2nd set thanks to some great baseline shots. However, his lead would not last long as Tiafoe battled back quickly to make it 2-2.

He slowly wore down Korda who once again started misfiring more often than hitting and Tiafoe was able to break him. On his own serve, the Frances employed a combination of strong serve and precise baseline shots. Some times he hit them, some times he didn't but a couple with timely serving he was able to hold the lead.

At 5-4 he faced a break point but was able to save it with with a great serve. Overall a very good match from Tiafoe against a shaky Korda who misfired too much from the baseline as well as struggling with the deep returns on his 2nd serve. He only won 9 of 30 2nd serve points and that was not going to do it.