The ‘gunboat’ Shelton made history and became Djokovic’s final hurdle

Young American Ben Shelton (47) rang the bell on Tuesday by eliminating his compatriot Frances Tiafoe (10). of the United States Open and win a spot in the semifinals, where he will face Serbian Novak Djokovic (2).

At 20 years old, Shelton signed the most important achievement so far in his short career and He also became the youngest American tennis player to reach the semifinals of the New York ‘big’ since Michael Chang in 1992.

To do so, he had to beat Tiafoe in the quarterfinals, who was a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows last year, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7) and 6-2 in three hours and seven minutes.

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Left handed and owner of a strong serve, Shelton is dangerous to the limit and isn’t afraid to play it over and over againsomething that was clearly seen -and with good results for him- in his fight with Tiafoe.

So, Shelton added 14 straight aces but committed 11 double faults and achieved 49 wins with 34 unforced errors.

“stay hungry“His dad and his coach, Bryan Shelton, yelled at him over and over again in this game.

The key of the night came in the third set, where both tennis players exchanged several service breaks until a ‘tie break’ was reached where Shelton was not weighed down by nerves or lack of experience and where, against the ropes and with a set point for Tiafoe, he got such a reckless return in his hat which sounds amazing.

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“I feel like I gave it my all tonight here. It was an emotional battle“The young man said on the court when the game was over.

The rivalry between Tiafoe and Shelton has a special meaning not only for facing two local tennis players at the US Open, but also because he was the first with two African-Americans in a grand slam quarterfinal in the Open Era.

In addition to Shelton’s ‘sensation’, American fans on Tuesday also celebrated the qualification for the semifinals in the women’s draw of Coco Gauff (6), a 19-year-old prodigy already integrated into the WTA elite.

After a successful college tennis career, Shelton turned pro in 2022 and he entered the ATP circuit with a bang, reaching the quarterfinals at the last edition of the Australian Open.

In his passage to the semifinals of the ‘grand slam’ in New York, the born in Atlanta it’s guaranteed to get into the ‘top 20’ of ATP next week.

Shelton has never faced Djokovictriple champion of the United States Open and the man who has won the most ‘grand slams’ in history (23).

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The legendary Serbian tennis player, 36, defeated Taylor Fritz, also an American, in his quarterfinal duel (9) by 6-1, 6-4 and 6-4 in two hours and 35 minutes.

“He won like 23 of them or something, right?Shelton joked about Djokovic.

“You have nothing better than a fight like this“, he added.

The winner of the match between Djokovic and Shelton could cross paths in the final with Carlos Alcaraz (1), the current champion of the tournament and who, on the other side of the draw, will face this Wednesday against the German Alexander Zverev (12) . ) for a placed in the semifinals.