Frances Tiafoe will play in the Japan Open semifinal and that ensures him a new career-high ranking of 17 on Monday.
In order to get to the semi-final, he overcame Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarterfinal. After the match, he acknowledged that winning has become more of a habit for him. He seeks victories more and more after getting to experience proper winning.
"Beating the guys you are supposed to beat. That's always been my Achilles heel. Winning is more of a habit now - I want more and more. I don't get complacent after winning a couple of matches. I wanna really go deep and play on a lot of Sundays. I'm happy but we got more work to do."
Having caught his breath, Tiafoe gave a more analytical response on the match in the press conference explaining that he felt good from the start.
"I was really solid from the start. I was moving really well, I hit the ball well from the back of the court. I made it really tough for Miomir today," Tiafoe said. "He played some great tennis. I was lucky enough to get it done in straight sets. Performances like this are big."
When notified of a new career-high ranking on Monday, the American responded: "It's cool. My ranking's going in the right direction... The work's finally paying off. To be brutally honest, my ranking is cool and everything, but I just want to win the biggest titles in the world. Wherever my ranking sits is great, but I know what I'm capable of."