Tommy Paul defeats Frances Tiafoe in all-American marathon to reach Houston final

Tommy Paul is into the first ATP clay-court final of his career after winning an all-American semifinal marathon against Frances Tiafoe in Houston on Saturday, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7).

Paul was down a break early in the third set before coming back to prevail in a third set tie-break after two hours and 45 minutes—not including a lengthy mid-match rain delay.

“That was an incredible match with Big Foe,” Paul said afterwards. “He’s always been one of the most entertaining guys to watch, and I’m happy we got to play this match.”

Both players held advantages going into the match—Paul had won the pair’s last three meetings in a row, while Tiafoe had reached the last three Houston finals in a row, winning the title in 2023 and finishing runner-up in 2024 and 2025.

And both of those trends produced one of the matches of the week, which included a rain delay of just over an hour and a half, with Tiafoe serving up a break in the second set at 4-3.

Upon resumption the two traded holds until they went to a third set, where Tiafoe actually drew first blood, breaking for a 2-1 lead. Paul not only broke right back, but he ended up winning three games in a row—breaking back, holding then breaking again—for a 4-2 lead, but things swung right back the other way as Tiafoe broke right back in the next game, and the two went into a holding pattern until the tie-break.

They were neck and neck for most of the breaker until Paul finally inched ahead 6-4 with double match point. After missing out on those, he had a third one at 7-6, missing out on that one too—but it was fourth time lucky as he drew a long Tiafoe backhand at 8-7 to finally close it out.

Paul is now through to the first ATP clay-court final of his career, but it’s not like he doesn’t have credentials on the surface already—he’s had plenty of success at Roland Garros, winning the junior title in 2015 and reaching the men’s quarterfinals just last year. He’s also reached the semifinals at the Masters 1000 event in Rome the last two years in a row.

Standing between him and his first tour-level title on the dirt will be surprise first-time ATP finalist Roman Andres Burruchaga, who routed Thiago Agustin Tirante, 6-1, 6-1, in an all-unseeded, all-Argentine semifinal earlier in the day.

Paul and Burruchaga will play each other for the first time.