TOKYO (AP) — Frances Tiafoe smashed his racket as he lost to qualifier Marton Fucsovics in the first round of the Japan Open on Wednesday, while Denis Shapovalov also suffered an upset loss.
The eighth-seeded Tiafoe struggled with his first serve in a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 loss to Fucsovics and smashed his racket against the court surface just after the Hungarian sealed victory with a forehand winner.
Tiafoe has slipped to 29th in the rankings. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the American after a third-round loss to Jan-Lennard Struff at the U.S. Open and defeat in both of his matchups against the Czech Republic in Davis Cup qualifying this month.
Fucsovics will next play either Jordan Thompson or Brandon Nakashima in the second round in Tokyo.
Seventh-seeded Shapovalov lost 7-5, 6-3 to Daniel Altmaier, who goes on to play either Damir Dzumhur or Aleksandar Vukic.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.