Frances Tiafoe looked down and out against Elias Ymer in his opening match in Stockholm on Thursday night, but the American clawed his way to a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) victory over the Swede to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event.
It was also the 100th hard-court win of Tiafoe’s career.
“I definitely didn’t deserve to win today,” he said in his on-court interview.
“Elias was playing really well in the beginning. I was really flat, really negative—it’s been a long year and it’s been tough, so I was really tired out there.
“Big growth win for me to come back and win. He got a little nervous and I started upping my level, and he still played well in the third, but I was able to get it done.”
Ymer’s brother, Mikael Ymer, had taken out another American, Tommy Paul, in the first match of the night session, 6-2, 6-3, and Elias looked well on his way to making it a family double as he went up a set and a double break against Tiafoe, 6-3, 4-0.
But Tiafoe won five games in a row to lead 5-4 in the second set, and eventually took the set in a tie-break—the two then held all the way through the third set, where Tiafoe once again came through a tie-break to close it out.
Ymer finished with 20 aces and won one more point in the match, 109 to 108.
“Elias is a hell of a player. He just needs to believe in himself. He strikes the ball as good as anyone, and he moves so fast,” Tiafoe said of the Swede.
“I think the only reason I won is because he didn’t believe it in the end.”