In an exciting day at the National Bank Open, American tennis player Ben Shelton, seeded number four, achieved an epic comeback to defeat Italian Flavio Cobolli, seeded number 13, with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1). Shelton, demonstrating great tenacity, overcame a 4-2 deficit in the final set to secure his place in the quarterfinals of the tournament that concludes on Thursday. After the match, the cameras captured a tense exchange of words between Shelton and Cobolli at the net. It was a really tough match. I was down and almost out, with a break in the third, the way he was playing. I gave myself a second chance and did a good job, running from there. A really tough opponent for me, someone who has taken me to three sets after I won the first set twice. In his next challenge, Shelton will face Australian Alex De Minaur, ninth seed, who previously defeated American Frances Tiafoe with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. With two ATP Tour titles, one in Tokyo in 2023 and another in Houston last year, this victory represents Shelton’s 100th win in 169 matches played.
On the other hand, the Italian Cobolli, 23 years old, has titles on clay in Hamburg and Bucharest this year. In other results, sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev led Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with a score of 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 3-0 when Davidovich Fokina retired due to exhaustion. Rublev will face American Taylor Fritz, the second seed, who defeated Jiri Lehecka with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) in the last match of the day.I think I did a really good job of recovering and finding a way to put the scraps on the court at the end of the match. I was struggling with my two most important weapons, the serve and the initial forehand. Getting to the end I think speaks a lot about my mental strength and my ability to be combative in those moments, more than my actual game.
Ben Shelton
