Ohio’s rain may have had Ben Shelton open in the Cincinnati for the past two days during the past two days, but the in-form American was ready and ready to conquer a place in the fourth round when the chance came.
In a competition originally planned for Tuesday’s night session at the ATP Masters 1000, Shelton Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (3), 6-3, after another rain-outing day in the grandstand. The fifth shelton placed achieved the opening set in a Tie-Break on Wednesday and then recovered strongly after a two-hour rain delay on 2-1 in the second set to close the game.
“The rain delay was a small reset for me,” said Shelton. “I came out and played a lot of more aggressive tennis, my tennis brand, and I am happy how I finished it.
‘I don’t think I’ve done it great [handling the match postponement last night]. We were here late last night and I could not end up and sleep immediately. It was difficult to get up this morning and be ready for a 1 hour match. It was certainly a tough day at the office. ‘
With his an hour, 49 minutes of victory against Bautista Agut, Shelton improved to 3-0 in the Lexus ATP Head2head series of the couple and expanded his winning series to eight games. The 22-year-old, who lifted his Masters 1000 title in Toronto last week, is now 28-1 for the season after winning the first set.
Known for his powerful, hard LeFty Serve, Shelton was in danger to Bautista Agut early. He issued three breaking points in the opening match of the match and two more in the third game, but after the extension of those tests he dominated the first set of Tie-Break and took control of it.
He resigned his aggression after the resumption and ended the game with 16 Azen and 12 Forehand winners according to Infosys ATP statistics. He also saved all eight breaking points he encountered in the match and won 71 percent of the second service points of the Spaniard.
Now 34-16 for the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Shelton has removed two victories from achieving new heights in the PIF ATP ranking. Competing in Cincinnati as the world No. 6, he would rise to a career-high no. 5 by reaching the semi-final. Shelton is also fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin and in a strong position to seal a debut performance at the seasonal -dependent Nitto ATP Finals.
Being in the way the American in the fourth round will be 22nd seed Jiri Lehecka. Shelton triumphed in straight sets in the only earlier meeting of the couple, in June on grass in Stuttgart.
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