Korda earns 150th ATP win in Dallas, avenges AO defeat to Zheng
Sebastian Korda gained his 150th tour-level win and a measure of revenge with a crisp opening performance Monday night at the Nexo Dallas Open.
Three weeks after losing to Michael Zheng at the Australian Open, Korda beat the Columbia University star 6-3, 6-4 to open his campaign at the ATP 500 event. The victory continued Korda’s recent success on home soil after his run to the final at an ATP Challenger Tour event in San Diego one week ago.
Now 150-100 at tour-level, Korda is the sixth man born in 2000s to reach the 150-wins mark.
Korda lost just one point on first serve against Zheng, according to Infosys ATP Stats, winning 29 of 30 points behind his first delivery. He saved the only break point he faced, which came as he served out the opening set. Korda’s victory drew the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series level at 1-1 after Zheng picked up his first tour-level win in their Aussie Open meeting.
Men’s Tour-Level Wins Leaders (Born since 2000)
| Player | Born | W-L |
| Sinner | 2001 | 326-87 |
| Alcaraz | 2003 | 287-65 |
| Auger-Aliassime | 2000 | 270-173 |
| Musetti | 2002 | 184-135 |
| Rune | 2003 | 175-107 |
| Korda | 2000 | 150-100 |
Eighth seed Frances Tiafoe also advanced Monday with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 result against Terence Atmane. Now a perfect 4-0 in Dallas, Tiafoe is seeking the biggest title of his career this week after reaching previous ATP 500 finals in Vienna (2021) and Tokyo (2022).
“It was kind of nice to get through that. Probably a year ago, last season, I’d lose a lot of those types of matches,” said Tiafoe, who was competing for the first time since the Australian Open. “To be able to not hit the panic button and keep going, trust my legs… I feel like I’m in great shape, so I can run and be tough out there.”
[ATP APP]Brandon Nakashima also advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Mattea Bellucci, but third seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina prevented an American sweep on the day with his 6-4, 7-6(1) result against qualifier Zachary Svajda. The Spaniard is through to the Dallas second round for the second straight year; the No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings is seeking his first ATP Tour title and his second indoor final after reaching the Basel title match last October.
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