Frances Tiafoe’s dream of glory in his hometown tennis tournament will have to wait another year.
“I feel closer and closer to hopefully winning here … I really thought this was the year,” Tiafoe said. “But hey man, it will happen. It will happen one time.”
After another post-midnight session at the D.C. Open, the Hyattsville native couldn’t solve fellow American Sebastian Korda, falling in straight sets 4-6, 4-6 Saturday night.
“Obviously it’s tough. But it was a great week,” Tiafoe said. “I mean, I’ve only been trying to gain momentum, only been trying to get to the point where I’m winning matches consecutively. It’s the first time I’ve won three matches in a row since Houston. That’s obviously a really long time.”
A smaller but still festive crowd, tempered by a nearly four-hour thunderstorm delay, tried to will the No. 5 seed Tiafoe to get a break of Korda in the final set, but to no avail.
“Once he gets going, once he gets the crowd going, he’s one of the toughest players to play,” Korda said. “I tried to make it as boring and as normal as I possibly could. I didn’t want him to start getting everyone involved. He’s a different player when he’s really feeling it.”
Korda, was clinical in reaching his eighth career ATP Tour final, but first 500-level final, losing only seven points on serve in the first set.
“I’ve had a ton of 250 finals. I’ve never had a 500. I made two semis of 500s before. This is definitely the biggest moment, I would say biggest final of my career,” Korda said. “Really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Try to give it my all, and we’ll see what happens.”
The fourth-seeded Florida native will play for the Washington title 22 years after his father, Petr, won it in 1992 and could crack the ATP top 20 for only the second time with a win. He would also be the first American to win Washington since Andy Roddick in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool. I used to come here when I was like 14, 15. This is definitely one of my favorite tournaments. I love coming here. I have a pretty great connection to the city,” Korda said. “Just to play here is pretty special. To play my first final here, it’s going to be pretty cool. Hopefully I can put my name up there along with my dad’s.”
Tiafoe fell to 1-5 versus top 30-ranked players this season. Nothing was particularly lacking in his game, rather Korda just played at a nearly untouchable level.
“You have to tip your cap sometimes. Seb played incredible tonight. Returned really well, served really well. I didn’t really have many chances on his serve at all. He just put me under constant pressure. It was really tough for me tonight,” Tiafoe said.
“I didn’t play bad by any means. I didn’t play amazing. He played at a really high level and didn’t blink really at all. Sometimes guys are too good.”
Severe storms meant tournament officials split up the night session matches. Originally scheduled to be back-to-back on Stadium Court, the second men’s semifinal between No. 2 Ben Shelton and No. 10 Flavio Cobolli was moved to the adjacent John Harris Court and played at the same time once play resumed after 9:30.
It was a match Shelton would like to have back, regardless of what court it was played on.
Leading a set and with two break chances at 3-all in the second, Shelton was unable to convert. Serving five games later trailing 5-6, the Atlanta native had two game point chances and eventually gave the set to Cobolli via a double fault to even the match.
“I think is my week. A little bit lucky,” the Italian said. “I don’t know, I just play my game every match. I think you have to believe in yourself always. I did.”
Cobolli made the most of his opportunity in the decider, with a comeback 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win, the biggest of his career, to advance to his first-ever ATP final.
“I was shaking. Shaking for all the time,” Cobolli said. “I can’t describe the emotion because it’s my first time everywhere. Every tournament is my first time. Every match is my first time. I can prove I can learn from every match. Just happy.”
The two square off for what will be a career-defining win for both on Sunday following the women’s singles final and no earlier than 5 p.m.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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