The American Ben Shelton is back from a fight that made it almost impossible for him against his compatriot Marcos Giron and qualified for the final of the Tokyo tournament, which he will play with the Russian Aslán Karatsev, who in turn stopped the local revelation, Shintaro Mochizuki, in his tracks.
Shelton’s first circuit final came after missing out completely. In favor of 7-6 and 5-2, Giron served to end the match and in fact was on four occasions with two points left to do so.but his rival saved the day and changed tactics drastically: the exchange from the back of the court would not take him to the final.
Taking risks paid off. Ben Shelton, ranked 19th in the world, chose to play as much as possible at the net and put pressure on Giron, who lost the set. In the final, a break in the seventh game put Shelton ahead until the end. His thirteenth straight serve earned him a spot in the final.
Public support and the winning momentum in Tokyo of Mochizuki, 215 in the world, was not enough against Karatsev in the other semifinal. The Russian did not fall for the overconfidence of Tomás Etcheverry, Taylor Fritz or Alexei Popyrin, the Japanese victims in the previous rounds, and won 6-3 and 6-4.
With no titles this season, North Ossetian Karatsev will try to add a fourth to his career this Sunday. The only time he faced Ben Shelton, at the last US Open, he lost in four sets in thirty-two rounds.
Source: La Verdad
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