DALLAS — Frances Tiafoe can attend his personal bobblehead night time on the Washington Wizards recreation if he desires.
The No. 1 seed within the Dallas Open hoped for a battle.
Unseeded Marcos Giron shocked Tiafoe early and rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 victory Friday night time to succeed in the semifinals of the hardcourt occasion on the SMU campus for the second time in three years.
Tiafoe, the highest-ranked participant within the discipline at No. 14, anticipated to be in Dallas for the semifinals Saturday, when — greater than 1,300 miles away — the Wizards will probably be handing out 10,000 Tiafoe bobbleheads for a recreation in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Giron’s victory within the quarterfinals — his twelfth win over a top-20 opponent — freed up his fellow American’s calendar. The 30-year-old nonetheless in search of his first ATP Tour title and misplaced to Tiafoe 6-2, 6-2 at Indian Wells nearly a 12 months in the past.
“I used to be excited to play him once more,” mentioned Giron, who gained the primary three factors on every of Tiafoe’s first two service video games on the way in which to a 5-0 lead. “Margins are skinny. I knew that I used to be enjoying nicely.”
Ben Shelton rallied for a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jordan Thompson, and the third-seeded American will face countryman Tommy Paul within the semifinals. Paul, the No. 2 seed, beat Dominik Koepfer of Germany, 7-5, 6-3.
Giron will face France’s Adrian Mannarino, the fourth seed who has reached the semifinals with out enjoying an entire match. In his first match of the event, Mannarino beat James Duckworth when the Australian retired with an harm with Mannarino main 6-2, 3-1.
Shelton saved three break factors within the clinching recreation after doing the identical when serving for the second set in a match that did not actually have a break level till the nineteenth recreation.
The 21-year-old in search of his second ATP Tour title gained with a forehand that hit the baseline on his second match level.
Shelton misplaced in 5 units to Mannarino within the third spherical of the Australian Open after shedding to Novak Djokovic within the US Open semifinals final summer season.
“I believe any time you possibly can come again and get a win after shedding the primary set, it is spectacular, particularly in opposition to somebody who serves in addition to Jordan does,” Shelton mentioned. “He introduced so many issues at the moment. I needed to problem-solve the entire match.”
After a primary set with no break level, the server gained the primary three factors of the tiebreaker earlier than Thompson’s crosscourt winner on a volley with each gamers on the web for a 3-1 lead.
Thompson, the No. 7 seed from Australia, went on to win six straight factors for a 6-1 lead and closed out the set two factors later when a shot from Shelton sailed lengthy.
Shelton earned the primary break factors of the match when he bought three at 3-3 within the second set. He transformed the third with a forehand winner on the return of serve then closed out the set on his serve when he transformed a 3rd set level after saving Thompson’s first three break factors of the match.
Shelton’s finest recreation got here at 3-3 of the third set when he had three winners to interrupt Thompson at love. The massive-serving left-hander topped 140 mph a number of occasions whereas holding off Thompson within the deciding recreation.
Koepfer dedicated two unforced errors to assist in giving Paul three set factors within the opening set, and Paul completed it off with a deep forehand that compelled Koepfer to place one other one within the web.
Paul closed out the match with a forehand winner on his fifth match level.
