Frances Tiafoe hasn't had a very good season so far, as his first win on European clay came at the 2024 Lyon Open against Jaume Munar.
The American hasn't been the greatest performer on clay historically, but he did relatively well on the surface, considering the circumstances. He was always able to win a few matches before Roland Garros on the surface this year, but he didn't win any on European clay.
He did play a really solid event in Houston, but the courts there have a different type of clay, though the final there was notable. Once he got to Europe, Tiafoe struggled tremendously, losing all three of the matches he played.
He didn't really play the strongest players either, so it was obviously a continuation of a really lackluster season overall. He finally got his first win on European clay in Lyon, and it's a pretty good victory.
It happened in Lyon, where Tiafoe enjoyed quite a bit of fan support when he faced clay expert Munar. The Spaniard is known as a really good player on the surface, and he was up early in this match, but the American player battled back.
Tiafoe then took a 5-3 lead but lost it; however, he did end up winning the opening set 7-5 in a tie-break. The match was played across two days because it was suspended last night after rainfall in the middle of the first set.
Today was all about Tiafoe, though. The American came up with a pretty good tactic for beating Munar, and he was able to do that. An early break in the second set only stabilized his play, and he wouldn't really encounter any complications until the end of the set.
The final score was 7-6(5), 6-4 for Tiafoe, who needed this win badly, especially with Roland Garros around the corner.
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