Wimbledon: Shelton books ticket in consecutive fourth rounds at SW19

American Ben Shelton, the No 10 seed, won against Hungarian lucky loser Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to move into the last 16 of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Saturday evening.

“I had a lot of fun,” Shelton said. “It’s always special playing at Wimbledon. This is my third time playing on Court No 1. Hopefully I get a few more matches on one of these two big courts. I’m trying to make my way to Centre Court. Maybe I’ll get there one day.”

Shelton, ranked No 10, will face Italian Lorenzo Sonego next, the man he defeated earlier this year in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Shelton reached the second week of each major this year, reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne and the fourth round in Paris, twice defeated by the eventual winner, Sinner and then Alcaraz.

Shelton’s consistency

 “I don’t overlook that accomplishment” Shelton said. “I know that it’s a difficult task just to play three-out-of-five sets, mentally and physically. To have a lot of deep runs, I think it is pretty cool.”

“For me it’s going to be also how can I do that at the Masters 1000s as well, the smaller tournaments, the 500s, the 250s that I play the other weeks of the year that are a shorter format that I haven’t had as much success in. How do I replicate what I’m doing here there? That’s another big goal for me, aside from continuing to do what I’ve been doing at the majors, is to do it at those other tournaments, as well.”

The 22-year-old American defeated Australian Rinky Hijikata (6-2, 7-5, 6-4) and Australian qualifier Alex Bolt (6-4, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4)) in the previous rounds of The Championships. Reaching the round of 16 in nine sets rather than fifteen, like last year, “it’s huge, not just physically, but mentally, as well”, Shelton said.

“The mental stress is a lot lower. The elation is so high after winning a five-set match because it feels so big, or you get to a 10-point tiebreaker, there’s so much tension, so much nerves. Obviously any win at a slam is a big win. You can be slightly more mellow about it. I’m not a very mellow person. When it’s a three-set win, that’s a bit more decisive.”

Earlier in the tournament, Fucsovics, ranked No 105, won against Frenchman Gael Monfils (6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4) and American Aleksandar Kovacevic (6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 5-7, 6-4).

London (Grand Slam), other third-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 53.500.000, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic (6) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-3, 6-0, 6-4
• Marin Cilic beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Alex De Minaur (11) beat August Holmgren (Q): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Brandon Nakashima (29): 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3)
• Grigor Dimitrov (19) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
• Flavio Cobolli (22) beat Jakub Mensik (15): 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (17) beat Nuno Borges: 7-6 (6), 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Nicolas Jarry (Q) beat Joao Fonseca: 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4)
• Kamil Majchrzak beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6)
• Jordan Thompson beat Luciano Darderi: 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Mattia Bellucci: 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3
• Andrey Rublev (14) beat Adrian Mannarino (Q): 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Taylor Fritz (5) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (26): 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1