Ben Shelton is excited to end Jannik Sinner’s bid for a consecutive hat-trick of the Australian Open title.
I’m definitely a competitor. I am loud on the field and I look forward to loud crowds Ben Shelton
Shelton will face the world number 2 in the quarter-finals after seeing off Casper Ruud 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4.
And the eighth seed will be looking to avenge his last-four reverse against the Italian at last year’s tournament.
The ‘rowdy’ American made a lot of noise after reaching the last eight for the third time in his four appearances.
Regarding his meeting with Sinner, he stated: “It’s what you look forward to most in this sport. It’s where I wanted to be. I wanted to be back here. I wanted to give myself another chance, improve on some of the things I didn’t do so well last year and leave everything on the field.”
The 23-year-old, who has lost eight of his nine matches against Sinner, added: “I’m definitely a competitor. I’m loud on the pitch and I look forward to loud crowds.”
“There is no shortage here in Australia. From my first experience I fell in love with this tournament. It is one of my favorites that appears on the calendar every year.”
The left-hander certainly made himself heard at this year’s tournament. Even outside of his tennis, he became embroiled in a political debate after writing ‘USA till its backwards’. on a camera lens after his last 32 victory over Valentin Vacherot.
But he insisted the message was not politically motivated, posting on Instagram: “Literally no underlying message with my camera sign… a lot of young Americans are killing it in Australia this year. And my girlfriend played for team USA for the first time in a year this morning. I thought they deserved a shoutout.”
Be that as it may, he proved that he was no shrinking violet in court against Ruud.
Looking like a street fighter, wearing a sleeveless tank top, he roared and pumped his joy after facing 12th seed Ruud, the Norwegian who had been at his best in Melbourne for five years.
(Photo by Martin KEEP/AFP via Getty Images)
Perhaps losing his first set in this year’s tournament provided the spark for Shelton.
He took advantage of Ruud’s erratic serve to gain control of the match in the second and third sets.
The boisterous crowd at the Rod Laver lapped it up as Shelton mixed good defense with sudden and effective aggression, appearing to have more tricks in his locker than Ruud.
He achieved 97 percent net points and dropped just three points in the fourth set as he secured his fifth place in the major quarter-final in 2 hours and 36 minutes.
This allowed Ruud to return to his wife Maria, who is expecting their first child, a daughter. He had said: “There is more to life than just tennis.”
Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton shake hands after their match
(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Award-winning sports journalist Mike Donovan has been writing about tennis for almost 40 years, citing Andy Murray’s historic Wimbledon win in 2013, the first by a Briton in 77 years, as a highlight, as well as coverage of a Davis Cup match in Bucharest shortly after the assassination of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, plus electronic reporting on the 1990 US Open won by teenager Pete Sampras for the pioneering Today newspaper. He is also an author and has written several Tottenham Hotspur-related books, the latest being Danny Blanchflower: A Glorious Life: The Authorized 100th Anniversary Biography of a Global Football Icon, which will be published on Pitch in March. Blanchflower is a monumental figure in Spurs history and was voted World X1 Champion at the World Cup.
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