Houston Open: Shelton through to first Tour-level semi-final on clay

Top seed Ben Shelton reached the last four of the Houston Open by beating Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 7-6 (9) at River Oaks Country Club on Friday evening.

This is Shelton’s first ever semi-final on clay on the ATP Tour, with the American writing, “Semis?? Clay???” on the camera after his victory. He was made to work hard for it, however, fending off two set points in the two hour, 13 minute match.

Shelton, ranked No 16, will face Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 4 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Houston tournament, Ben Shelton won against Belgian Zizou Bergs (3-6, 6-4, 6-3).

Nakashima, ranked No 92, defeated Croat Duje Ajdukovic (6-1, 6-4) and Australian Rinky Hijikata (6-1, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

Houston ATP 250, other last 8 results (River Oaks Country Club, clay, USD 742.350, most recent results first):

• Jordan Thompson vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Marcos Giron vs. Luciano Darderi
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Michael Mmoh (WC): 6-3, 0-1 ret.