Tiafoe turns tide at Beach

Miami, Feb. 23: Francis Tiafoe turned the tables on Juan Martin del Potro on Thursday, toppling the second- seeded former champion 7- 6 ( 8/ 6), 4- 6, 7- 5 to reach the quarter- finals of the ATP tournament at Delray Beach, Florida.

The 20- year- old American needed four match points to finish off Argentina’s del Potro, the latest seed to fall in a tournament that saw top seed and defending champion Jack Sock, sixth- seeded John Isner and ninthseeded Milos Raonic beaten on Wednesday.

Tiafoe booked a quarterfinal meeting with eighthseeded South Korean Chung Hyeon, a 6- 4, 7- 6 ( 7/ 4) winner over tenacious Croatian Franko Skugor.

Del Potro, the 2011 Delray Beach champion and a semi- finalist the qualifier

That followed a three- set victory over the young American, ranked 91st in the world, in Acapulco last year.

World number 10 del Potro appeared to be on his way when he seized an early 3- 0 lead, but he was unable to capitalize on four set points as he dropped the opener in the tie- breaker.

The Argentinian opened the second set with a break and went on to level the match.

The tight third set saw del Potro save a match point against in the 10th game, and two more in the 12th before Tiafoe gained just the second win against a top- 10 player in his career.