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Ben Shelton is having a dream run at the Australian Open, defeating countryman JJ Wolf to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Ben Shelton is steadily proving with each game at the Australian Open his incredible talent and one with a great future.
In an all-American battle, the young gun came back from losing the first set against JJ Wolf, to eventually winning 6-7(5) 6-2 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-2, and reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in just his second Slam tournament.
Wolf won a very close first set 7-6(5), as Shelton lost the set with a poor volley miss at 4-5 in the tiebreak.
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The 20-year-old will break first in the second set at 4-2, and eventually take the set 6-2 after 1 hour 25 minutes.
At 3-3 in the third, Shelton played amazingly from 0-30 to force a tiebreak and then a mini-break. Wolf would play better on the tiebreak and win the set 7-6(4), leading the youngster two set to one.
The highlight of the fourth set would be Shelton surviving with a good hold for 3-3. Some errors from him witnessed another tiebreak, which he kept alive by winning 7-6(4) to force a five-setter match.
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Shelton with the break in the fifth set at 2-0, then 3-0, before sealing the match 6-2 for a significant victory.
A great tournament for the 2022 NCAA singles champion so far, who only turned pro six months ago and made his first trip outside the USA for Melbourne. He is the first male player born in 2002 to reach a Slam quarterfinal.
"It's been a dream so far." He said in his post-match interview.
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Shelton was ranked outside the top 500 and not a professional player in June after winning the NCAA singles championships. He will now be ranked N0. 43 at worst after the Australian Open.
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