Japan Open: Shelton upsets Paul for the second time in a row to reach semis

American Ben Shelton reached the semi-finals of the Japan Open by beating No 5 seed Tommy Paul for the second time in a row on Friday at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.

Weeks after Shelton defeated Paul in the fourth round of the US Open, the 21-year-old left-hander scored a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over his higher-ranked countryman to take a 2-1 lead in their career head-to-head.

Shelton, ranked No 19 in the world, will play the winner of the match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 8 seed, and American qualifier Marcos Giron next.

Prior to this match, Shelton edged out Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel (3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2)) and won against Australian Jordan Thompson (6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3).

Paul, ranked No 12 and in the hunt for one of the remaining ATP Finals berths, won against German Daniel Altmaier (3-6, 6-1, 6-3) and Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-2) earlier in the week.

Tokyo ATP500, other quarter-final results (Ariake Colosseum, hard, USD 2,013,940):

• Shintaro Mochizuki vs. Alexei Popyrin
• Alex De Minaur vs. Aslan Karatsev
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Marcos Giron

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