California [US], March 13 : The World No. 3 Jannik Sinner extended his perfect 2024 season with an outstanding performance against home favourite Ben Shelton to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals.
Sinner maintained his poise in front of Shelton's strength and used his big-match background to win 7-6(4), 6-1. The 22-year-old became the first player born since 2000 to win 150 hard-court tour-level matches by making it to the Indian Wells quarterfinals (150-46).
With a win against Shelton, Sinner set up a quarter-final matchup with 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka.
Sinner, who has won 35 of his last 37 games, is aiming to win three titles in a row this season after victories at the Australian Open and Rotterdam. In addition, he is vying for his second ATP Masters 1000 title after his victory in Toronto in August of last year.
Despite the windy conditions, Shelton gave the stadium fans plenty to cheer when he took the fight to Sinner early in the match. With four early break points at 2-2 thanks to his devastating baseline cuts, Sinner fought them off and won the opening break of the match in the next game.
"For sure it was a different matchup. I knew that obviously playing against him, there's not so much rhythm. But I think I can be really proud of how I played. I just tried to stay positive. There were tough moments, especially in the first set. I'm really happy that I won that, and obviously started really positive in the second set, which gave me a lot of confidence," Sinner said as quoted by ATP.
Shelton used his home crowd support to rally and break for a 5-5 lead, but his momentum died when he recovered two mini-breaks to square the tie-break at 4/4. Shelton's forehand started to miss as Sinner settled, losing him the set and an early break in the second.
Sinner won 15 of 17 points from 4/4 in the tie-break to take a 3-0 lead in the second set and start the contest. For the next hour and forty-eight minutes, Shelton attacked, determined to give the Italian no rhythm, but he could only push his opponent as far as deuce on return.
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