I can’t believe that we are almost into the European clay-court swing (this year feels like a blur). The U.S. Men’s Clay-Court Championship is a comfy way for some of the American players- who don’t necessarily thrive on clay- to ease themselves into the upcoming months.
2025 ATP Tour
ATP 250
U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships
River Oaks Country Club, Houston, Texas (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Quarterfinal- 5th March
Frances Tiafoe (2) vs Alex Michelson (5)
This bracket has gone according to seed, with 2023 Houston champ Frances Tiafoe looking to kickstart his season against the rapidly up-and-coming Alex Michelson. History was made this week, with all eight quarterfinalists hailing from the States (the first time that has happened at an ATP Tour event since 1991).
Frances Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe saw off a spirted Adam Walton 7-5, 6-3 to ease into this year’s quarterfinal. Tiafoe has now won his opening match in all seven events he has played this year. Can he finally make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season? The two-time US Open semifinalist improved to 7-6 for the campaign against Walton, as he desperately looks to regain the form that saw him break into the top ten two years back. He played some absolutely sensational tennis during last year’s North American hardcourt swing, reaching the Cincinnati final before a semifinal run at Flushing Meadows. He failed to capitalize on home advantage during the recent ‘Sunshine Double’, going 2-2 during those events. Tiafoe has struggled in elite clay-court events, failing to go beyond the 3rd round of the French Open (or any of the other Masters 1000 clay-court events). But he has produced a few notable clay-court showings in minor events, finishing runner-up in Estoril in 2018 and 2022. He has also prospered in this event, reaching the final here in each of the last two seasons (he won here in 2023 and lost to Ben Shelton in last year’s final). He served well against Walton, winning 85% of his first-serve points.
Alex Michelson
20-year-old American Alex Michelson has been making incremental gains these past 18 months and is on the verge of cracking the top 30 for this first time in his career. Michelson took a calculated gamble a few years back, opting to turn professional when he was just about to start his collegiate career. He has reached three ATP 250 finals in his first two years on tour (all of which coming on American soil). He also made some Grand Slam headway this year, reaching the 4th round at a slam for the first time at the Aussie Open. Having said that, he is yet to fully crack the clay-court quagmire. He made some progress last year, beating Talyor Fritz en route to a maiden clay-court quarterfinal in Geneva. This will be just his 2nd career ATP Tour clay-court quarterfinal appearance. He started the week in authoritative fashion, taking down 2025 breakout star Learner
Tien in straight sets. He was thenp ushed to three sets by a wildly out-of-form Adrian Mannarino. An aggressive baseliner, Michelson just needs to learn some patience in order to succeed on these surfaces. He likes to play aggressive tennis, looking to get to the net to finish off points. He has an effective double-handed backhand but could do with throwing in the odd slicked backhand (just to change the momentum of rallies).
The Verdict: Tiafoe to win in straight sets at – Tiafoe leads the head-to-head 1-0, easing past Michelson in last year’s Dallas Open. I think that Tiafoe is just too talented to wallow in mediocrity indefinitely. He has the power to penetrate these courts and should have too much clay-court nous for the 20-year-old Michelson.
