London, July 4 It took Benjamin Shelton just 71 seconds to punch his ticket to the third round at Wimbledon on Friday. The American was already in command, leading Rinky Hijikata 6-2, 7-5, 5-4 when their match was halted Thursday night due to fading light at 9:29 p.m. local time.
Sixteen hours later, Shelton strode back onto No. 2 Court with one goal: finish it quickly. Four crisp swings of the racquet later, it was game, set, and match as per ATP. “He [the supervisor] said it was a five-minute warning until Hawk-Eye went down. was telling him, ‘I only need 60 seconds.’ That was kind of my goal when I went out there today," Shelton explained of the decision to suspend play on Thursday.
Shelton recounted the conversation with a smile, recalling his confusion over why the match couldn't continue. “I’m like, ‘I’m already serving for the match.’ At that point, I was not as upset about the decision,” he added.
Despite his dominant position in the match, the 22-year-old admitted that switching off overnight was nearly impossible.
“When you're in the middle of a match, you're thinking about what you did, what you could have done, how you could have been off the court, what you're going to do when you get back out there,” Shelton said. “For me, it's what my game plan is going to be for that one service game to make sure that I hold. You can't really completely switch off.”
Aiming to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year, Shelton will next meet Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. The 22-year-old is currently 10th in the ATP Live Race To Turin and will hope to boost his ATP Finals hopes with a deep run. Four of the top eight players in the Live Race To Turin have fallen at Wimbledon, with Casper Ruud missing the event due to injury.
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