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Ben Shelton was one of the feel-good stories at the recently concluded Australian Open.
The 20-year-old American, playing only his second Grand Slam singles main draw and first tournament outside the US, made a fairytale run to the last eight, where he lost to compatriot Tommy Paul in four sets.
The left-hander had commenced his campaign with a fifth-set supertiebreak win over Zhang Zhizhen before seeing off Nicolas Jarry and Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to reach the second week. His dream run didn't stop there, though. Shelton outlasted compatriot J.J. Wolff to become the youngest American male quarterfinalist at a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick at the 2002 US Open
In the last eight, Shelton took on another compatriot - Paul - but came up short, although he did take a set off his opponent. Thanks to his run at the first Grand Slam of the year, Shelton moved up from No. 89 to break into the ATP top 50 at No. 44. The American tweeted at the development:
"Pretty pumped. Time to keep building."
The former NCAA champion was the World No. 569 only a year ago. He was a University of Florida college player, leading them to their first national championship, and hadn't played outside the United States before his quarterfinal run at Melbourne Park.
"I definitely exceeded my expectations this week" - Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton will not forget his run at the 2023 Australian Open in a hurry and is looking to take a lot of positives from it.
He said after his 6(6)-7, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6 defeat in the all-American quarterfinal to Paul:
“I think it was a great experience. It was fun to be out there, my first quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. I thought I played alright. Some things that I could do better, things that I would maybe do next time if I could do differently, but I'm pleased with the result, this being my first time at the Australian Open. So, (I’m) taking a lot of positives away from it.”
The 20-year-old had no qualms admitting that a quarterfinal run was beyond his wildest dreams, noting:
“I definitely exceeded my expectations this week, what I thought I could do on the court — not just tennis-wise but physically being able to get through as many three-out-of-five-set matches as I did. I mean, I've only played one before in my career. I was pretty pleased with myself in that aspect as well.”
Ben Shelton will now look to build on his good start on the other surfaces.
