Top seed Tiafoe plays first Almaty match on Thursday against familiar opponent

Ravi Ubha

Frances Tiafoe’s post US Open swing the previous two seasons differed greatly.

In 2022, the American showman made the final in Tokyo, quarterfinals in Stockholm and quarterfinals at the Paris Masters.

But last year, after losing a tough one to pal Ben Shelton at the US Open, Tiafoe went 2-6.

This year Tiafoe picked up a win in Shanghai — before exiting to Roman Safiullin in the second round — and is looking for more this week as the top seed at the Almaty Open.

The 26-year-old has some ground to make up but certainly is in the mix to earn a spot at the year-end championships, about 1100 points behind the No. 8 in the race, Andrey Rublev.

He collected a chunk of points with a semifinal showing in New York, where another friend and compatriot, Taylor Fritz, handed him another difficult loss.

Tiafoe — after a bye as one of the top four seeds — makes his debut on Thursday night when he meets familiar foe Dan Evans. The 2020 Astana semifinalist has been busy off the court, visiting an autism centre and learning how to make pasta.

It promises to be memorable match, given the brand of tennis they play. Tiafoe possesses ample firepower, moves terrifically well and is no stranger to venturing forward.

Evans too knows his way around the net and often dazzles with his touch. Demonstrating his potency, he owns a 500 level title in Washington and once beat Novak Djokovic. 

The 34-year-old has dealt with a knee injury this season but it didn’t stop him from also winning the longest match in US Open history against Karen Khachanov — Almaty’s third seed.

The world No. 15 leads their matchups 5-4 — all on hard courts — and owns a healthier advantage in their last four completed duels (3-1) but Evans beat Tiafoe on the way to the Washington crown last year. 

Remarkably, the winner of the first set has lost more than half of the matches.

Having gone through qualifying and upsetting top seed Bu Yunchaokete, Evans has had a chance to acclimatize to the higher altitude conditions in Almaty.

Mannarino seeks more wins in Kazakhstan

The winner could face defending champion Adrian Mannarino in the quarterfinals. Mannarino will first have to defeat Aleksandar Vukic and that is no certainty, especially since the 85th-ranked Australian beat Mannarino on hard courts two months ago in Winston Salem. And the Frenchman has struggled in 2024.

Mannarino, though, flourishes in Kazakhstan — winning the title, making another final and reaching the last eight in three previous visits.

The eighth seed might also feel he can swing freely after almost being out of the tournament on Tuesday. Safiullin couldn’t serve out the match in the second set, leading Mannarino to say post match he was lucky to escape.

Tomas Machac, meanwhile, showed no signs of slowing down Wednesday when he beat former junior doubles partner and home wildcard Timofey Skatov.

At a career high 25 in the rankings after reaching the Shanghai semifinals and beating Carlos Alcaraz, he gets another home wildcard in Beibit Zhukayev.

About the only thing missing from Machac’s season — which also included Olympic gold in mixed doubles — is a maiden ATP title.

Like Zhukayev, the big serving Otto Virtanen bids for a first ATP quarterfinal in Almaty. The Finn meets Khachanov, who is on a two-match losing streak.

Khachanov, though, made the quarterfinals in Beijing in late September to pick up his first back-to-back victories since May.

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