Stuttgart, June 11 American Ben Shelton on Wednesday made a confident start to his campaign at the grass-court ATP 250 Stuttgart Open here with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win over the resilient Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Shelton crucially saved all four break points he faced in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats, before converting his first break point of the set in the 11th game to lead 6-5. The American then served out the match to set a quarter-final meeting with Jiri Lehecka.
With his one-hour, 50-minute win, Shelton jumped two spots to No. 10 in the ATP Live Rankings. The 22-year-old lefty is guaranteed to break the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings for the first time next Monday should he perform better in Stuttgart than Daniil Medvedev does at this week’s Libema Open in 's-Hertogenbosch.
His next opponent, eighth seed Lehecka, began his campaign with a 6-4, 7-5 triumph against home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff.
Shelton’s countryman Taylor Fritz set up a hard-earned win with a fast start to book his quarterfinal spot in Germany. The second seed notched the only break of his match against Quentin Halys before prevailing 6-3, 7-6(6).
“I think just coming out and first game, he served, and I played a really good game to get a break,” reflected Fritz. “Outside of that, nothing really changed the rest of the match. He served really well, I served well, and we both took good care of our serves. It was big for me to save two break points in the second (set)."
With his win, Fritz improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Halys after he also beat the Frenchman on clay in Geneva last month. The World No. 7 is competing for the fourth time in Stuttgart, where he pushed Roger Federer to three sets on his event debut in 2016.
“Everyone keeps reminding me I played here in 2016. That was 10 years ago, so it keeps making me feel old,” joked the American. “Obviously, it’s been a long time, and I’ve improved a lot. I still remember that match with Roger so perfectly, even though it was long ago. I’m happy to be back.”
Fritz will take on Marton Fucsovics, who booked his last-eight spot on Wednesday. The Hungarian qualifier overcame Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach his fourth quarter-final in seven Stuttgart appearances.
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