After losing to 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open, Shelton is now in action at the Shanghai Masters, where he will face some serious stiff competition.
Coming off strong in the early stages of the competition, Shelton registered the biggest win of his career last Tuesday night when he upset World No. 4 Jannik Sinner in a nail-biting match.
Sinner easily swept Shelton in the first set, winning in just 33 minutes and breaking off two of Shelton’s serves. In the second set, however, Shelton got back up to his feet and rose to the enormous challenge, successfully breaking Sinner at 2-1, according to Sportskeeda.
The action intensified in the third set as both players fought off many breakpoints to force a tiebreaker. In the end, Shelton prevailed over Sinner to win the match 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final..
In a post-match interview, Shelton expressed his thoughts about his thrilling match against the recently crowned China Open champion, “”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,” per ATP tour.
During his interview, Shelton was all smiles while answering the questions as the crowd serenaded him with ‘happy birthday’ in the background, “This is a pretty crazy atmosphere,” Shelton said.
“To think that a year and a half ago I was in college and a year ago playing Challengers, now I am on centre court in Shanghai with the crowd singing happy birthday. It is one of those pinch me moments.”
Shanghai, you need to let @BenShelton talk 📣🤣
The #RolexShanghaiMasters crowd singing Ben happy birthday during his interview 🥺 pic.twitter.com/dNFlkzBm02
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 10, 2023
At the conclusion of the match, Shelton extended his hand to shake hands with Sinner before making his customary gesture of hanging up the phone.
Ben Shelton hangs up the phone on Jannik Sinner.
📞 ☎️ #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/SDoIbuOFv4
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 10, 2023
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The photo above is from a YouTube screengrab