Shelton Stops Sinner At Shanghai Masters; Alcaraz v Dimitrov, Rublev v Paul

Upsets continued Tuesday at the Shanghai Masters as Beijing champ Jannik Sinner fell in a thriller to rising American Ben Shelton 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-5).

Shelton nearly let go a 4-0 lead in the breaker against Sinner who ran off five straight points to take the lead. But Shelton powered up his lefty serve and then on match point cracked a service return back at Sinner who couldn’t handle the response.

Shelton finished 15 aces, was just 1-for-10 on break chances, did break once en route to ending Sinner’s 7-match win streak.

Sinner had two break chances at 4-3 in the third in this NextGen battle.

“I had a lot of belief in my ability to serve and hang tough and to make it deep in sets. I trusted my fitness levels, being able to go the distance. That gave me a lot of confidence. My serve wasn’t working that well in the first set, I felt that he was really on top of me. I really started to find my groove and had one of my best serving days in the second and third sets.”

Having just turned 21, with his Australian Open quarterfinal, US Open semifinal and now win over Sinner, Shelton has proven himself to be a worthy inclusion in the best of the future conversation.

“I am addicted to playing on the big stages,” Shelton said to the ATP. “I have not had a normal upbringing or usual first year on Tour. It has been a little bit backwards but I am just trying to keep going and improving each week.”

Shelton will now face countryman Sebastian Korda who knocked out No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 7-6(8-6) in a mild upset.

No. 16 Hubert Hurkacz ended the run of Chinese hope Zhang Zhizhen in three 7-6(8-6), 4-6, 7-6(7-4). He’ll now take on Fabian Marozsan who stunned No. 8 Casper Ruud 7-6(7-3), 3-6, 6-4.

“Zhang was playing some really amazing tennis. It was a battle,” said Hurkacz. “We were both giving it all out there, leaving everything. Hopefully the fans enjoyed that match because I think that was a really high level. If you just left a little bit of space out there, you’re running and fighting from behind.”

On Wednesday, the fourth round wraps up with No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz drawing No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov. Alcaraz leads that series 3-0.

No. 5 Andrey Rublev will meet No. 12 Tommy Paul. Rublev leads Paul 4-1.

No. 22 Nicolas Jarry will challenge Diego Schwartzman plus No. 32 Ugo Humbert takes on J.J. Wolf.

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