All eyes were once again on American star Ben Shelton at the US Open and the 23-year-old delivered for the second match in a row in four sets to reach the third round in New York on Wednesday afternoon.
Under the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Shelton cracked forehands, recovered from losing the second set and rode the fan support to earn a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 victory against former Top 10 Pole Hubert Hurkacz.
“I am super happy with the way the match went. It was a battle until the end and I thought Hubi played outstanding today,” Shelton said in his on-court interview. “It was really tough to deal with everything he was throwing at me and if I was commentating, I would talk about how loud this crowd was from start to finish.”
The last American man to win the US Open was Andy Roddick in 2003 but Shelton is one of a number of stars from the United States aiming to end that wait this fortnight. Seeded eighth, the lefty is the highest American seed and he has so far, on the whole, coped with the expectation placed on him.
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Against Hurkacz, Shelton struck 44 winners to 35 unforced errors and seemed to find an extra gear at key moments, increasing his power and physicality in key moments to hit the Pole off the court.
A semi-finalist at the US Open in 2023, Shelton will continue his run this year against Denis Shapovalov or Luca Van Assche. Last month, the No. 9 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Shelton successfully defended his title at the ATP Masters 1000 hard-court event in Montreal.
In other evening action, Shelton’s countryman Frances Tiafoe also advanced. The 11th seed defeated #NextGenATP Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-5. Two-time semi-finalist Tiafoe, who needed five sets to win his opening match against Martin Damm, is into the third round for the seventh consecutive year.
Earlier, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev reached the third round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 win against World No. 731 Sebastian Gorzny, who suffered a life-threatening illness aged 15, which you can read more about here.
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Medvedev won just one match across his three North American hard-court events in the lead up to the US Open but has been yet to drop a set so far in New York to record consecutive hard-court wins for the first time since Indian Wells in March, when he reached the final.
The seventh seed will meet Arthur Rinderknech in the third round after the Frenchman beat Jaume Munar 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-5. In other action, American Alex Michelsen downed 16th seed Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Last month, Nakashima reached the final in Montreal and the semi-finals in Cincinnati but was far from his best in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Michelsen.
Source: ATP Tour
