American tennis standout Frances Tiafoe recorded his first top-10 victory since 2024 on Monday, defeating Italian Flavio Cobolli — the sixth seed and recent French Open finalist — by a score of 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the opening round of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany.
Tiafoe, who was eliminated in the Round of 16 at Roland Garros, spoke to the ATP website about his approach to the match, saying he wanted to make things difficult for Cobolli and help him “come down to reality” in his first outing since the French Open final, where German Alexander Zverev defeated Cobolli in five sets. Tiafoe’s performance was impressive across the board — he delivered nine aces, converted 34 of 42 first-serve points for an 81.0% success rate, and never had to fend off a single break point.
Second-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime — who lost to Cobolli in the French Open quarterfinals — had a tougher time advancing, needing three sets to get past Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. His next opponent will be American Learner Tien, who beat German wild card Max Schoenhaus 6-2, 6-4. France’s Terence Atmane and German wild card Daniel Altmaier also moved on to the next round.
At the HSBC Championships in London, eighth-seeded American Tommy Paul had little trouble in his first-round match, dispatching lucky loser Zachary Svajda 7-5, 6-3 in one of just three matches completed on the day.
Paul dominated the all-American matchup by firing 15 aces, winning an impressive 33 of 38 first-serve points — an 86.8% clip — and successfully saving all five break points he encountered.
Elsewhere in London, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov outlasted British wild card Jack Pinnington Jones in a tight three-set battle, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3), while the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over British wild card Harry Wendelken.
