Tommy Paul saved five match points to defeat Alejandro Tabilo in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai

The 11th-seeded Tommy Paul (USA) advanced to the Round of 16 of the ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai tennis tournament with prize money of 9 million USD. The American tennis player had a tough match but made a fantastic comeback, saved five match points, and at the end clinched a three-set win against Alejandro Tabilo (Chile) by 2-1 (6:7(2), 7:6(6), 6:2) in 2:45 hours of play.

Tommy Paul scored 13 aces against 11 for his opponent, as well as fewer double faults (1-2). The American made 39 winners versus 34 for Alejandro Tabilo, who also committed more unforced errors (47-36).

The first set started equally with both players winning their serve games with Tommy Paul receiving the first breakpoint in the seventh game, but his opponent reflected it. Thus, the set entered into a tiebreak, in which Alejandro Tabilo made two mini-breaks to win it by 7-2.

In the second set, the Chilean player took the lead by 5:1 after two breaks. At 5:2 he served for the match and missed five match points, but Tommy Paul succeeded to return one of the breaks. At 5:4, Alejandro Tabilo again served for the match but started terribly at 0-40, and in the second breakpoint, Tommy Paul returned also the second break and thus equalized the score. At 6:5 in his favor, the American tennis player received three break/set points, but this time Alejandro Tabilo reflected them and the set entered into a tiebreak. During the tiebreak, Tommy Paul took a lead of 6-3 and had three set points, but his opponent again saved them. However, in the end, Tommy Paul won it by 8-6 and equalized the sets.

The American tennis player had the full control in the third set, breaking in the very beginning and again for 4:1. Thus, he closed the set at 6:2 and won the match.

In the next round, Tommy Paul will face the winner between Tomas Machac (Czech Republic) and Aleksandar Vukic (Australia).