It has been a chaotic week at the Cincinnati Masters for tennis fans. With a lot of top seeds bowing out early in the tournament and courts playing out a tad bit differently than the usual, the Western and Southern open is offering a different experience. Adding to this is the unpredictable weather that caused a chaos in scheduling for organisers.

During a marathon quarter-finals day at Cincinnati where multiple five-setters were played, rain gods decided to show no mercy as unexpected showers forced an interruption in play. The rain began to increase just when Frances Tiafoe was walking down to the court for his quarter-final match against Hubert Hurkacz.

The rain came off as a surprise even for Tiafoe as it didn’t take much time for him to realise that he won’t be playing in this condition. Rarely do we see tennis players walking back immediately after entering into the stadium. Frances, however, added his own style to the scheme of things as he gave out a wry smile before deciding to walk off the court.

You can watch the moment from Cincinnati below:

Fortunately for the audience, the match was played eventually when the rain subsided. However, it did not go on for long as Hurkacz found himself unable to continue. As the first set ended 6-3, the Polish player retired from the clash, helping Tiafoe advance to the semifinal, where he is set to face Holger Rune as both aim to reach their first final in a long time.

Tiafoe is someone who has always managed to bring charisma on and off the court. Although the match began with a humorous scene unfolding with him quickly making a U-turn, we saw the elated face as he overcame setback after setback.

Frances Tiafoe on his way to overcome ‘tough year’

Since the 2023 US Open, Tiafoe had not managed to claim more than three victories in a tournament before his run in Cincinnati. ATP Houston showed promise as he reached the final, but Ben Shelton did not let him claim the title. Now, he has a shot at entering his first ATP Masters final. The journey has not been easy for him and he reflected upon the same after Hurkacz retired from their clash.

“It’s been a tough year man. It’s been a tough year. Yeah, pretty much since the end of my US Open run, what I haven’t won 4 matches in a row since then so uh, yeah, it’s been tough.” To overcome his slump, Tiafoe played in the Cagliari Challenger as well, but could not manage to win the first round of the tournament. Following tournaments showed similar trouble, until he managed to win three in a row in the Citi Open.

He finds relief as he earned great victories in the Western & Southern Open, with only one set lost till now. Will he manage to go past his roadblocks and take the victory against Rune as well?