WHAT HAPPENED: If Ben Shelton planned on flying under the radar while making his way through the men’s draw at the 2023 US Open, his cover was officially blown on Friday afternoon.
Wielding an unforgiving serve and a punishing baseline game that was heard all around the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Shelton stormed into the last 16 of a major for the second time this year with an emphatic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Aslan Karatsev.
Earlier this year, Shelton had reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, and just one year into his professional career has quickly asserted his spot among the best on Tour by breaking into the Top 50.
Friday afternoon’s display of a contrast of styles and personalities pitted the sheer powerhouse of the 20-year-old Shelton, who plays with his heart on his sleeve, against the 29-year-old poker-faced strategist.
“I think it was one of my best serving days ever,” Shelton said after the match with a grin. “Pretty fitting that I’ve had the most aces in a match, the day after John Isner played his last match here.”
In front of a standing-room-only crowd in the Grandstand, Shelton came out firing on all cylinders, taking the first break of the match for a 2-1 lead. He then took the first set with ease behind lights-out tennis that saw him hit seven aces–more than one in the 140 mph range–and drop only one point through his six service games.
Karatsev turned the tables in the second set with an early break to charge ahead, 3-1, an effort bolstered by a stronger service game and his ability to make more headway against the 20-year-old’s blistering serves. Where in set one Karatsev won 5% of return points, he improved to 36% in set two and rode the one-break lead all the way to a second-set victory.
A break in the sixth game of the third set gave a fired-up Shelton a 4-2 lead, then followed with another break against Karatsev to close it at 6-2 and take the 2-sets-to-1 lead.
The fourth set was all Shelton, as Karatsev’s service game began to falter, to the tune of 14 double faults in the match, allowing the American to close it out without dropping a game in the final set.
WHAT IT MEANS: Shelton’s next test will be an all-American showdown with No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, who, coincidentally, was the opponent who defeated Shelton in this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals in four tight sets. Shelton will certainly have revenge on his mind against his compatriot, and he’ll enter the contest with fresher legs, as well.
Paul has spent nearly eight hours on court in Flushing Meadows, while Shelton has punched five-and-a-half hours on the asphalt.
MATCH POINT: Serving for a 5-2 lead in the third set, the 6-foot-4 Shelton unloaded a 147-mph serve to clock the fastest serve at the 2023 US Open, eclipsing Milos Raonic’s 139-mph rocket in the first round. Shelton finished the match with 26 aces against Karatsev.
