Paul and Brooksby Reach U.S. Clay Court Semifinals as Four Americans Fill the Final Four

For the first time at an ATP Tour clay-court event, four Americans will play in the semifinals. The Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston reached that point on Friday, after American players had already filled all eight quarterfinal spots. Whenever the tournament ends, with a poor weekend forecast raising concerns about the schedule, a U.S.-born player will take a Tour title for the first time since Tommy Paul won in Stockholm last October.

Paul, the top seed, beat qualifier Colton Smith 6-1, 7-6 (1). Fourth-seeded Brandon Nakashima defeated Christopher Eubanks 6-4, 6-4. Jenson Brooksby came from behind to beat Aleksandar Kovacevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 before the tournament's first real rainstorm halted play. Two hours later, once the rain had stopped, second-seeded Frances Tiafoe beat fifth-seeded Alex Michelsen 7-5, 6-1 to complete the field.

Tiafoe won the title in 2023 and lost to Ben Shelton in last year's final. He and the 20-year-old Michelsen traded breaks early, but Tiafoe gradually took control and won the first set with a crosscourt volley after Michelsen had saved two set points. Michelsen then fended off eight break points in the fourth game of the second set before Tiafoe held easily and broke again in the next game.

Nakashima reached back-to-back ATP finals as a 19-year-old in 2019 but has not fully met the high expectations that followed. He will rise to a career-high 31 in the rankings even if he loses to Tiafoe. Nakashima won their most recent meeting, in Tokyo in 2024, after Tiafoe took the first four, all on hard courts.

Paul, 27, has now gone past the second round in Houston for the first time. He won his first match at River Oaks as an 18-year-old in 2016. He describes a "love-hate" relationship with clay. "I used to love it. Then I hated it. And now I'm starting to love it again," he said. Only 47% of his first serves landed in on Friday, but he won 70% of his second-serve points and saved all three break points he faced. He had broken Smith three times in a one-sided first set. Smith, 22, was playing his first clay tournament in five years, according to Paul. The tiebreak was lopsided after Paul aced Smith on the first point and went ahead 6-0.

Brooksby, ranked 507th, is the lowest-ranked player to reach the quarterfinals here since at least the mid-1980s. It is also his first semifinal on clay. He trailed by a set and a break in his first qualifying match last weekend and saved three match points against third seed Alejandro Tabilo in the second round. Against Kovacevic he fell behind 3-4 in the third set, broke back, held after trailing 15-30, and broke again with a drop-shot winner after Kovacevic had saved two match points.

The 24-year-old, a Sacramento native who now lives in Dallas, has played in nine tournament semifinals. Those came before surgeries on both wrists and an eight-month suspension for three missed drug tests derailed his career. He was ranked 33rd in June 2022 but did not play a competitive match between the 2023 and 2025 Australian Opens, which dropped him out of the top 500. He is now in the mid-300s, and two more wins would lift him to 175. "As I keep climbing I think I'll set some more specific (goals)," he said.

Paul and Brooksby have met in Texas before, in February on an indoor hardcourt in Dallas, where Paul won 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4. "It was 50-50, a really tight match," Brooksby said. "I'll be ready for him." Paul called Brooksby "one of the people I really enjoy watching" and said he expects a tough match. "He digs himself into every match and makes it tough for everyone," Paul said.

In doubles, Robert Galloway and Jackson Withrow, the last American team in the draw, lost 6-4, 6-2 to Argentina's Federico Agustin Gomez and Mexico's Santiago González shortly before midnight. Brazil's Fernando Romboli and Australia's John-Patrick Smith beat the Australian pair of Matthew Christopher Romios and Adam Walton 7-6 (3), 6-3. The doubles final is scheduled as the third match on Saturday, after the two singles semifinals, the first of which starts at 1 p.m., weather permitting.