Shelton fights back to reach Shanghai last 8

US Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton fought back from a set down to defeat sixth seed Jannik Sinner yesterday and reach the Shanghai Masters last eight in one of the biggest victories of his young career.
The 19th seed emerged from an excruciatingly tight deciding set to battle through 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and faces fellow American Sebastian Korda in the quarter-finals. The 26th-seeded Korda fended off a late fightback from the 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina to go through 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).
Shelton, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the last four in New York last month, did his now-trademark “dialled-in” celebration with an imaginary telephone to mark his first time into the quarter-finals of a Masters. “I think my toughness level and how resilient I was able to be on the court, I surprised myself a little bit,” said Shelton, who turned 21 on Monday.
Shelton endured a torrid opening set against the in-form Sinner, summed up by his double fault to concede the seventh game of an error-strewn first stanza. The Italian Sinner, fresh from winning the China Open in Beijing, clinched the opening set with a well-placed smash. Shelton was a changed man in the second, sealing the set with an ace and a roar, and then immediately put Sinner under the cosh to start the decider.
The 22-year-old Sinner survived the initial onslaught, saving five break points to seal a game that lasted nearly 10 minutes, and the set went with serve to force a tiebreak. Shelton prevailed and a crowd that had been on his side serenaded him by singing happy birthday.
Shelton only turned professional last year and his appearance at the Australian Open in January, where he reached the quarter-finals, was his first time outside the United States. He is still getting used to the scrutiny that comes with his fast-growing profile. “It’s something that happened quite quickly and was kind of a shock to me,” said Shelton, whose father Bryan reached 55 in the world as a player and is now his coach.
A tournament full of shocks had another to start the day when 91st-ranked Fabian Marozsan had a belated birthday present of his own by beating eighth-seeded Casper Ruud. The unseeded Hungarian won 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4 and will face Poland’s 16th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz.
Hurkacz just about avoided falling victim to a shock, defeating unseeded home hope Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that stretched beyond midnight. The Shanghai event, which is back on the ATP calendar for the first time since the Covid pandemic, has witnessed several shocks.
Korda dumped out second-seeded Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third and fourth seeds, are already out. The upsets have paved the way for top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who faces 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16. World number one Djokovic is not in China.

Battling Zvonareva posts top-20 win at Zhengzhou
Vera Zvonareva claimed her first top-20 victory in two and a half years with a battling 6-2, 7-6(7/5) defeat of recent Tokyo champion Veronika Kudermetova to make the second round in Zhengzhou yesterday.
The former world No 2, ranked 369 in singles, was sidelined for 11 months with a foot injury between March 2022 and February 2023 and had posted just two tour-level main draw match-wins this season coming into the WTA 500 event Zhengzhou. The 39-year-old Russian made it through qualifying this week with wins over Colombian youngster Camila Osorio and Hungarian veteran Timea Babos and will next take on Ukrainian world No 28 Anhelina Kalinina.
Meanwhile, last week’s Beijing runner-up Liudmila Samsonova needed just 69 minutes to move past Tatjana Maria 6-3, 6-3 and book a second-round meeting with another German, Laura Siegemund. Russia’s Daria Kasatkina had a last-minute change of opponent when lucky loser Babos replaced Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the draw but the No 8 seed still made it through 6-1, 7-6(7) in just under two hours.
No 3 seed Maria Sakkari and No 6 seed Caroline Garcia will kick off their Zhengzhou campaigns on Wednesday with the former facing home favourite Zheng Qinwen and the latter squaring off with Italian Jasmine Paolini.