Ben Shelton advances to the quarterfinals at the National Bank Open
American tennis player Ben Shelton, seeded number four, came back in the third set to defeat Flavio Cobolli of Italy, seeded number 13, with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1) at the National Bank Open on Sunday night. Shelton managed to overcome a 4-2 deficit in the final set to secure his place in the quarterfinals, which will be played on Tuesday at this hard-court event that concludes on Thursday. After the match, the television cameras captured a heated exchange between Shelton and Cobolli at the net.Shelton will face Australian Alex De Minaur, ninth seed, in the quarterfinals, who defeated Frances Tiafoe of the United States with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Shelton, 22, has two victories on the ATP Tour circuit, both on hard courts: in Tokyo in 2023 and in Houston on clay last year. Sunday’s victory was the 100th in 169 circuit matches.It was a really tough match. I was down, losing a break in the third set, with the way he was playing. I gave myself a second chance and did a good job with it, basically running from there. He’s a very difficult opponent for me, someone who has taken me to three sets after I won the first set twice.
Ben Shelton
The 23-year-old Italian tennis player Cobolli won clay court events in Hamburg and Bucharest this year, thus achieving his only titles on the circuit. Previously, sixth seed 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 of the Czech Republic with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) in the last match.I think I did a really good job in the exchanges and finding a way to put the scraps on the court at the end of the match. I was struggling with my two biggest 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
