Shelton and his powerful serve advance to the quarterfinals in Washington | ATP Tour

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Shelton and his powerful serve advance to the quarterfinals in Washington

On the same day, Cobolli saved 5 MP to beat Davidovich

August 01, 2024

Ben Shelton gets stronger when the ball is hot, and on Thursday he held his nerves in two tight tie-breaks to seal his passage to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The American, seeded second, defeated his compatriot Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5) and 7-6(4).

The 21-year-old produced powerful, first-strike tennis in the humid conditions. Despite missing three set points on serve at 5-4 in the first set, Shelton, who won a three-set night match against Radu Albot on Wednesday, quickly recovered to win the opening tie-break. The left-hander won 81% of his first serves and hit 14 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I served really well today, that was one of my keys,” said Shelton, who hit a pair of aces from 5/4 in the second-set tie-break to seal the victory.

Shelton will now face wild card Denis Shapovalov in a rematch of last month’s third-round Wimbledon match, which the American won. The Canadian beat Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Shelton’s countrymen Sebastian Korda and Alex Michelsen also advanced. The fourth-seeded Korda reached the quarterfinals after Thanasi Kokkinakis retired with the American leading 6-7(1), 7-5, 3-2. Kokkinakis held two match points on serve at 5-4 in the second set. The #NextGenATP Michelsen defeated South Korea’s Seongchan Hong 6-3, 6-3.

Michelsen will next face Italian Flavio Cobolli, who recorded a memorable victory by saving five match points, four of them in a row, to defeat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(7) in a marathon of three hours and 14 minutes. Cobolli, 22, was trailing 2-6 in the final tie-break and saved another point at 6/7. In addition, Atlanta finalist and seventh seed Jordan Thompson defeated Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-5, 6-4.

Andrey Rublev and Frances Tiafoe were also among the day’s winners, setting up a quarterfinal clash between the two. The top seed beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(4), 6-4, while the fifth-seeded local beat compatriot Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3.

Tiafoe, No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings, leads the Lexus ATP HeadToHead with the current No. 8 in the rankings 2-1 since prevailing in the US Open quarterfinals two years ago.