by Hanlon Walsh
March Madness basketball may not have had the Cinderella-style upsets that basketball fans might have hoped for, but Houston tennis fans are getting a Cinderella story of their own. American Jenson Brooksby, a wildcard qualifying entrant, continued his winning ways on Saturday evening by notching one of his biggest career wins yet.
In their fourth meeting, the 24-year-old American scored his first career victory over No. 1 seed Tommy Paul in a rollercoaster three-set victory, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6), lasting two hours and 43 minutes.
Breaking serve was a central theme of the match, as the Americans exchanged multiple breaks and traded lead trajectories in each of the three sets. In the end, Brooksby prevailed in the battle of the breaks while also saving a match point in the third set tie-breaker.
Paul and Brooksby dealt with unpredictable weather conditions that caused a few starts and stops throughout the course of the match. Although challenging for both, Paul credited Brooksby for handling the conditions and playing better in the key moments.
"It was an entertaining match for the crowd at least, but I would have changed a lot on my side of the net. I had a ton of unforced errors and missed first serves on big points. Today we both had to make the best of a difficult situation with the delays and weather conditions. Jenson handled everything better than I did today and stepped up when it mattered most. " - Tommy Paul
With the victory, Brooksby handed Paul his first loss to an American player in 2025 and scored his sixth consecutive win of the week since his first-round qualifying win last Saturday. He has now saved five match points in three of his six matches and has spent 13 hours and 20 minutes on court in singles.
As a result, Brooksby has etched his place into multiple US Clay and ATP record books on his dream run to the finals. He is the first qualifier to reach a US Clay final since 2007 (Mariano Zabaleta) and, if he wins the title, would become the first US Clay singles qualifier champion in 25 years (Fernando Gonzalez).
After undergoing multiple wrist surgeries, Brooksby missed two years away from the tour and was ranked No. 507 before the tournament. If he wins the trophy on Sunday, he would be the lowest ranked champion in US Clay history. He is projected to reach No. 220 at minimum for advancing to the finals alone, cutting his ranking by more than half over the course of his six match wins this week.
Tiafoe Makes Third Consecutive US Clay Final
Brooksby will compete against No. 2 seed Frances Tiafoe, the 2023 US Clay champion and 2024 finalist, in Sunday's final. The winner will have national bragging rights in becoming the first American man to claim an ATP title in 2025.
On Saturday evening, Tiafoe defeated No. 4 seed Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 7-6 to advance to his third straight US Clay final. The 27-year-old has now won 10 of his last 11 matches at River Oaks and holds a 12-5 lifetime record here, the most wins of any active ATP player.
"It feels great to get the win tonight and make my third straight final. I thought I played pretty well overall. I wish I could have served better to make the night easier but I played extremely well from the back of the court. Every rally exchange felt like my rally to lose. Shoutout to Brandon for competing hard and making me earn it at the end." - Frances Tiafoe
Brooksby and Tiafoe will square off in Sunday's championship match at 3 p.m. following the doubles final. Sunday's title match will be the 11th all-American US Clay final in the Open Era and third in four years.
