Frances Tiafoe Stunned At Australian Open After Wasting Too Many Chances
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Frances Tiafoe won't have good memories of the 2025 Australian Open, as he's out already in the second round of the tournament.
Entering every major, there is a sense of excitement and hope for a good result. That's something that Tiafoe certainly had ahead of the 2025 Australian Open, as he does well on the hard courts.
He reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in the past, and he's a two-time US Open semi-finalist. This year, he was the 17th seed at the "Happy Slam" in Melbourne, but he got off to a rough start.
Wearing pink from his new apparel sponsor, Lululemon, Tiafoe beat Arthur Rinderknech in a four-hour battle. The American player won the match 7-6(2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-3. In the second round, his opponent was Fabian Marozsan from Hungary, who also had to play five sets in his first-round match against Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Tiafoe had a terrible start on serve, as he hit back-to-back double faults in his first service game. Still, he managed to win the following four points to hold his serve.
However, his opponent couldn't do the same thing only a few games later, when Tiafoe broke to lead 3-2 in the opening set. His lead didn't last long, though, as Marozsan broke right back.
After that, both players displayed their undeniable serving qualities, and Tiafoe finally traded double faults also for some aces. One of those helped him also in the tie-break, which he won 7-3 to secure the first set.
At the start of the second set, Marozsan played very well, and he worked his way to three consecutive break points at 2-2. He couldn't convert the first two because of errors, but he didn't miss on the third one, breaking with a forehand winner.
From there, the Hungarian easily held his serve for the remainder of the set, almost. He faced plenty of troubles when trying to serve out the match, but two aces helped him to overcome three break points that he faced, winning the second set 6-4.
Marozsan was the better player at the start of the third set, too, as he broke already in the first game to lead 1-0 and later 2-0, but from that point, it was a one-man show in the Kia Arena, as Tiafoe dominated the remainder of the set to win it 6-3.
Leading 2-1 and serving well, Tiafoe likely needed just one break in the fourth set to secure the win. And he got plenty of chances to secure that break. Way too many chances.
He had four break points in the first game, but his opponent saved three of them with winners, and Tiafoe made one error. A few games later, the American had two more break points, but he missed the court two more times.
He then had another four break points at 3-3, but once again, due to his misses, he couldn't use them. Tiafoe was then able to level the score of the fourth set at 4-4, but likely the disappointment of not using any of the 10 break points got to him.
From that point, he was completely dominated by his opponent. Marozsan won the fourth set 6-4, and he didn't allow any drama in the fifth set, winning it 6-1 to win the match 6-7(3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, securing a third-round spot at the 2025 Australian Open. His next opponent will be either 18-year-old prodigy Joao Fonseca or Lorenzo Sonego.
