Korda dispatches Shelton in battle of prodigies

Ben Shelton hit the wall 48 hours after upsetting Jannik Sinner, with the American taking a 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6) against compatriot Sebastian Korda on Thursday at the Shanghai Masters.

Shelton was unable to make an impression despite 17 lefty aces, with Korda needing six match points to get the job done after leading 6-1 in the final tiebreaker.

Korda, son of a former Australian Open winner,called his result “super cool” as he moved to the Chinese semi-finals at the expense of Shelton whose father also played on the ATP back in the day, winning two titles at Newport on grass. 

“I played a really high level, it was a really high level. We had a lot of great points out there,” the winner said.

“Hopefully it’s the first of many battles that we play against each other.”

Korda won as he converted five of 16 break chances as he held off the last-chance charge from his opponent.

“I played some bad points but I always believed in myself, even at 6/6. I just thought about putting the return in the court,” Korda said..

“Somehow getting my racquet on it and luckily I finished it off then.”

The struggle lasted a shade under three hours and marked Korda’s seventh win over a Top 20 opponent since January.

Korda, who put out  ATP No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the third round,   now plays for the final against Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated Fabian Marozsan 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.