In the Dallas Open quarterfinals, Marcos Giron stunned first seed Frances Tiafoe

In the Dallas Open, the top seed was hoping for a fight.
For the second time in three years, the unseeded Marcos Giron defeated Tiafoe early on and cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory on Friday night to advance to the SMU campus’s hardcourt tournament quarterfinals.

At No. 14, Tiafoe is the highest-ranked player and is anticipated to be in Dallas for the semifinals on Saturday. The Wizards will be playing Philadelphia in the NBA, more than 1,300 miles away, and Tiafoe bobbleheads will be given out, with 10,000 being given away.

Giron’s quarterfinal victory, his 12th over a top-20 opponent, cleared the schedule for his fellow American. Nearly a year ago, in Indian Wells, the 30-year-old, who is still vying for his first ATP Tour title, was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Tiafoe.

Giron, who took a 5-0 lead after winning the first three points of Tiafoe’s first two service games, stated, “I was excited to play him again.” “There are narrow margins. I was aware of how good I was playing.

Ben Shelton overcame Jordan Thompson 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, and the third-seeded American will play Tommy Paul in the semifinals. The second-seeded Paul defeated Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-3.

Giron will take on fourth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France, who advanced to the semifinals despite not playing a full set. Mannarino defeated James Duckworth in his opening round of the competition, 6-2, 3-1, when the Australian retired due to an injury.

In a match where there were no break points until the 19th game, Shelton saved three break points in the match’s decisive game. He had previously done the same while serving for the second set.

On his second match point, the 21-year-old, who is aiming for his second ATP Tour title, prevailed thanks to a forehand that found the baseline.

After falling to Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open quarterfinals the previous summer, Shelton faced Mannarino in the Australian Open third round and lost in five sets.

Shelton stated, “I think it’s impressive any time you can come back and get a win after losing the first set, especially against someone who serves as well as Jordan does.” “He brought up so many issues today. I had to figure out every match’s puzzle.

The server took the opening three points of the tiebreaker after the first set ended without a break point, and Thompson’s crosscourt winner on a volley with both players at the net gave him a 3-1 lead.

After winning six straight points to take a 6-1 lead, Australian No. 7 seed Thompson ended the set two points later after Shelton’s ball went long.

At 3-3 in the second set, Shelton grabbed his first break point of the match. After saving Thompson’s first three break points of the match, he converted a third set point on his serve to seal out the set. He had previously converted the third with a forehand winner on the return of serve.

Shelton’s best performance occurred in the third set, when he broke Thompson at love with three consecutive wins. In the decisive match, the big-serving left-hander held off Thompson on multiple occasions, hitting above 140 mph.

In the first set, Koepfer made two unintentional mistakes that allowed Paul to take three set points. Paul sealed the victory with a deep forehand that compelled Koepfer to hit another one into the net.

On his fifth match point, Paul won the game with a forehand.