The Sarasota Challenger will feature two players of the hone nation after Tennys Sandgren and Frances Tiafoe won contrasting matches on Saturday.
Sandgren raced through his meeting with Vincent Millot, defeating the Frenchman in one hour and seventeen minutes. Sandgren broke once in the first set and three times in the second. The American saved a single break point in each game to move into the final.
Sandgren’s ranking fell as low as No.334 in July last year but the American has since made a Challenger final in Columbus, before winning his first Challenger title since 2013 in Tempe.
Frances Tiafoe has had a little more consistent success in recent years. The 19 year-old reached five Challenger finals in 2016, winning two of them in Granby and Stockton. He was a finalist in the upcoming Tallahassee event and a win in Sarasota would take the pressure off of the points he has to defend in that tournament.
Tiafoe reached the final by virtue of a tough semi-final win over former Roland Garros semi-finalist, and last year’s Sarasota finalist Jurgen Melzer. In a match that went nearly three hours, Tiafoe broke five times and edged a deciding tie break in the third set, winning 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
Both Tiafoe and Sandgren also feature in Tallahassee next week, though defending champion Quentin Halys has opted to play the Anning Challenger in China, which features more prize money, player hospitality, and more ATP points.
