Grunting seed Ben Shelton wrapped up another early -morning finish for the US Open on Saturday, earning a controversial 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Canadian Denis Shapovalov to reach the fourth round.
As usual at the event, play did not finish until around 2 a.m. with a complaint about the American’s habitual grunting batted away by the chair umpire in the fourth set.
Eighth seed Shelton, the repeat Canadian champion last month, has become something of a controversial character with his hardcore victory gestures, on-court swagger and generally aggressive demeanour.
His strutting act was raw meat for the after-dark New York fans on a night when compatriots Frances Tiafoe and Alex Michelsen also reached the last 16/
Tiafoe, the recent Cincinnati finalist, defeated Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 while Michelsen put out Spaniard Daniel Merida 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3/
Shelton’s three-and-a-half-hour win puts him on a collision course with resurgent Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The Shelton match started late after the men waited out a three-hour loss by the Williams sister in doubles, with the recipients of a purely sentimental wild card losing 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching.
“We waited around for three hours, and when we thought that doubles would maybe just be an hour. That was hard to deal with.
“It was not an easy night. Nowhere near my best, but I got through it.”
Shelton said that losing his last two service games to drop the second set against Shapo was infuriating.
“I think the anger fuelled me a little bit. Also just accepting where I was at, the things that I did have, what I needed to do to win, that I not try and play outside my limits.”
