The Boys 18 National Championship and main draw wild card into the US Open will come down to #1 Frances Tiafoe and #3 Stefan Kozlov after each won their semifinal matches in straight sets.
Props goes out to TennisRecruiting.Net’s forecasting model for correctly predicting the finals before the tournament started. TRN shows Tiafoe as a slight favorite in the finals with a 53% chance of winning but that’s a pretty slim margin.
Boys 18 Semifinal Results:
#1 Frances Tiafoe def. #4 Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2
#3 Stefan Kozlov def. #2 Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 6-3
#1 Frances Tiafoe def. #4 Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2
#3 Stefan Kozlov def. #2 Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 6-3
Don’t forget to read Colette Lewis’s recap of today’s matches on ZooTennis which most likely will be up shortly.
Tale of the Tape
#1 Frances Tiafoe (6 ‘2″ 170 lbs)
- 17 years old (1/20/98)
- Right handed with a 2-hand backhand
- Best Previous Results at the Zoo
- 2014: B18’s – 5th Round (lost to Noah Rubin 6-3, 6-3)
- Won the back-draw def. Taylor Fritz 1-0(5) in 3rd
- 2013: B16’s – Semifinals (lost to Tommy Paul 2 & 4)
- Won 3rd place match def. Sameer Kumar 6-3 in 3rd
- Current ATP Ranking of 274 (also his high)
- # of Pro Singles Titles – 1 (2015 USA F10)
- High ITF Junior Ranking of 2
- Best Junior Grand Slam Results
- 2014 US Open Semis (lost to Quentin Halys 7-6(6) in 3rd)
- 2014 Wimbledon R16 (lost to Noah Rubin 6-3 in 3rd)
- 2014 French Open R2 (lost to Jan Choinski 6-3 in 3rd)
- Other Junior Accolades
- 2014 Easter Bowl Champion, 2014 USTA International Spring Champion, 2013 Orange Bowl Champion, 2013 Pan American ITF Champion
- 2016 Tennis Recruiting.Net Blue Chip
- Born and Resides in College Park, Maryland
- Turned Professional in 2015
- Universal Tennis Rating 14.86
#3 Stefan Kozlov (6 ‘0″ 170 lbs)
- 17 years old (2/1/98)
- Right handed with a 2-hand backhand
- Previous Results at the Zoo
- 2014: B18’s – Quarterfinals (lost to Collin Altamirano 6-4, 6-2
- Won 3rd place match over Michael Mmoh via w/o
- 2013: B18’s – 3rd Round (lost to Sam Shropshire 6-4, 7-6
- Won the back-draw defeating Ronnie Schneider 6-3, 7-5
- 2012: B18’s – 5th Round (lost to Alexios Halebian 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
- Lost back-draw quarters to Mitchell Krueger 1-0(7) in 3rd
- Current ATP Ranking of 354 (also his high)
- # of Pro Singles Titles – 0; does have 2 doubles titles (2015 Maui Challenger with Jared Donaldson & 2013 USA F31 with Sekou Bangoura)
- High ITR Junior Ranking of 2
- Best Junior Grand Slam Results
- 2014 Wimbledon Runner-Up (lost to Noah Rubin 6-3 in 3rd)
- 2014 US Open Quarters (lost to Quentin Halys 3-1 ret.)
- 2014 French Open Quarters (lost to Andrey Rublev 6-4 in 3rd)
- 2014 Australian Open Runner-Up (lost to Alexander Zverev 6-3,6-0)
- Other Junior Accolades
- 2014 Orange Bowl Champion
- 2013 Orange Bowl Runner-Up
- 2013 International Hard Court Runner-Up
- 2013 USTA International Spring Champion
- 2013 Copa Gerdau Runner-Up
- 2012 International Spring Championships Runner-Up
- 2016 Tennis Recruiting.Net Blue Chip
- Born in Skopje, Macedonia; Resides in Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Turned Professional in 2012
- Universal Tennis Rating 14.34
H2H:
2013 Orange Bowl Finals – Tiafoe def. Kozlov 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-3
2013 USTA International Spring Championships Semifinals – Kozlov def. Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4
Full google doc here if you’d rather view it than the chart below.
It may come as a surprise but there were some back-draw matches played despite the many withdrawals. Both Sam Riffice and Zeke Clark advanced to the finals
Boys 18 Back Draw Semifinals Results:
#9 Sam Riffice def. #29 Sameer Kumar 6-4, 0-6, 1-0(6)
#16 Zeke Clark def. #20 John McNally 6-2, 7-6(1)
| Boys’ 18 Singles | ||
| PL | (2) Taylor Fritz d. (4) Tommy Paul | Wo (ill) |
| SF | (3) Stefan Kozlov d. (2) Taylor Fritz | 7-6(3); 6-3 |
| SF | (1) Francis Tiafoe d. (4) Tommy Paul | 6-3; 6-2 |
| Consolation: | ||
| CS | (16) Zeke Clark d. (20) John McNally | 6-2; 7-6(1) |
| CS | (9) Sam Riffice d. (29) Sameer Kumar | 6-4; 0-6; 1-0(6) |
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