Fils downs American Paul in a thrilling three-tiebreak match to reach the semifinals of Miami Open

By Harvey Fialkov / Staff writer

MIAMI GARDENS — After his fourth-round win, Tommy Paul said his next opponent, Frenchman Arthur Fils is “electric,’’ and one of his favorite players to watch.

The voltage was high coming off the forehands of both players, creating an electric atmosphere in a packed Hard Rock Stadium Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, the match played at an absolute stratospheric level ended in a  heartbreaking 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) loss for the American.

Most of the raucous crowd was cheering for the stoic American with chants of U-S-A and Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. Loudest was a group of high school guys from the Delray Beach area dressed in American Continental Army uniforms, who call themselves the Founding Fathers.

But it was Fils who energized his section of the crowd throughout the match with his double bicep flex after winning an especially competitive rally.

With Paul serving at 4-5 of the third set, Fils held match point (his only break point) after battling back from 40-love, but an errant forehand set up the decisive tiebreak, in which Paul was unable to convert four match points from 6-2 up.

At 6-3 Paul scraped his knees on a diving, sliding attempt to reach a volley, that may have affected the outcome. A couple of near-miss forehands following prolonged baseline rallies got Fils back to 5-6. The emotional Frenchman’s 125-mph serve out wide tied it at 6-6 and Fils raised his arms to orchestrate the crowd as they erupted into a standing ovation for both warriors.

“We were both hitting through the court a lot; both hitting the ball with a lot of speed,’’ said Paul, a Delray Beach Open finalist last month. “I had a lot more looks earlier on in his service games and he had a couple looks there at the very end. But for the most part both of us were taking care of our serves. The breakers decided the match.

“In the third he was able to close out the match and I wasn’t. Obviously, we always want more as players. Unless you leave with the trophy, you’re not ever really satisfied.”

Neither player lost their serve across 39 games over 2-hour-47-minutes. Paul faced one break point and Fils saved six break points. Paul finished with 25 winners,18 on the forehand to Fils’ 32 winners, 21 on his forehand.

The match of the tournament and arguably the year featured exquisite shot-making from both players. Paul went old-school with 18 forays to the net, converting 16, but Fils, who wore his hair in corn-rows a-la basketball idol Allen Iverson, had all the answers. It was PlayStation tennis.

“I just had to believe in myself,’’ said 31^st-ranked Fils, who plays the 21^st seed Jiri Lehecka of Czechia in a Friday semifinal. “That was the most important. I think he played very, very good tennis tonight, especially in the tiebreak until 6-2.

“I just said, okay, look, point by point, if I’m lucky, I get through. If not, it’s OK, it’s not a big deal. He was playing better than me. So, I just had to fight until the end and see.”

Fils is 2-1 against Lehecka, with their most recent meeting a quarterfinal  victory for the Frenchman at Doha.

Paul’s departure leaves his Boca Raton buddy, Frances Tiafoe, as the lone American man remaining in the draw. But he has the unenviable task of facing world No. 2 Jannik Sinner in Thursday’s 1 p.m. quarterfinal. It’ll be Tiafoe’s flash against the Terminator-like strokes of the Italian.

In the evening 7 p.m. quarterfinal, No.  3 Alexander Zverev of Germany faces Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in a battle of big forehands.

Fils, 21, who signed his usual match mantra on the TV camera lens after the match: GABOS (Game ain’t based on sympathy), said his team pushed him to victory as he guzzled pickle juice for hydration in the final set.

He reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal, and is the first French player to do so here since Richard Gasquet in 2013. No French male has ever won the 41-year-old tournament.

“It feels very good to be in the semis for the first time in my life,’’ Fils  said. “I’m going to try my best. I have a tough match against Jiri. Let’s see how I get through it. But it feels good.”

The extended rallies featuring numerous 100-mph forehands that had even the fans gasping for air. Fils, the younger man, seemed exhausted as the match neared its end.

At the tournament’s onset,  no one expected the only Spaniard to remain in the final eight to be 20-year-old qualifier Martin Landaluce instead of world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz. If anyone had predicted a Landaluce-Lehecka quarterfinal they would have won a landslide of cash at the nearby Hard Rock Casino.

Lehecka, the 24-year-old Czechian, ended Landaluce’s “fairy-tale” run, 7-6 (1), 7-5, with impeccable serving.  Lehecka is on the road back from a back injury that has derailed his progression up the ranks after early-career wins over Rafael Nadal and then-No 4 Daniil Medvedev.

“It was a difficult match today, I wasn’t feeling comfortable,’’ said Lehecka, the highest seed remaining among the four quarterfinalists in his top of the draw. “Martin was very aggressive and took any chance that he had. I fought my way through this match.

“He was dictating the pace most of the time. I was serving pretty well and that helped me through the match. That allowed me to play with a free mind to wait for a chance on his return games, which came on the last game of the match.”

Lehecka needed two spectacular passing shots in the 5-6 game to close the deal.

“We can see tennis is very strong,’’ said Lehecka, into his 12th ATP Tour semifinal and the sixth Czech man to reach the Miami semis.

“All the guys are able to beat the top guys. You don’t see it this much. This is one tournament over the last 52 weeks that’s extreme. Me being the highest seed remaining [in my half] proves tennis is in good hands and that the level is good even out of the Top 10.”

Landaluce failed to qualify for any of the four ATP Tour level tournaments this year until Miami. All the former world No.1 junior did was reel off six straight wins, including three over Top 50 players (0-4 before tournament), including the slaying of giant-killer No. 36 Sebastian Korda, who had shocked Alcaraz in the second round.

“For sure, I think I’m playing at a really high level,’’ said Landaluce, whose ranking will climb to No. 103. “I think I belong here for sure. If I keep playing like this, keep improving everything, I think I’m going to do big things.

“I’ve been thinking my whole career and this year that good things were coming but I wasn’t thinking it’s my time now. … The thing that changed these past two weeks is my time is now. I don’t want to wait.”

But back to Paul, who says he loves sleeping in own bed in Boca Raton during the Miami Open. Unfortunately, he will get the opportunity to watch one of his favorite players from whatever room he chooses.

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