It was a roller-coaster ride from start to finish between two on-the-rise Americans in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Thursday night.
In the end, Sebastian Korda had the last laugh against friendly rival Ben Shelton by prevailing 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6). The 23-year-old needed two hours and 54 minutes to book his spot alongside Hubert Hurkacz in the semis.
The two compatriots took turns surviving sets they should have won in much simpler fashion. In the first, Shelton failed to serve it out but recovered to take a wild tiebreaker 10-8. After Korda dominated the second, he surged to a 4-2 lead in the decider. The world No. 26 even had a 15-40 chance to go up by a double-break, but he missed it and then got broken for 4-4. In the ensuing tieabreaker, Korda squandered all of a 6-1 lead. However, he snagged a crucial mini-break at 6-6 when Shelton erred on a forehand and finally converted his sixth match point at 7-6.
“It’s super cool,” Korda said of reaching his first Masters 1000 semifinal. “I played a really high level. Ben did, as well, so I think it was a really high level. We had a lot of great points out there and hopefully it’s the first of many battles that we play against each other. He’s such an electric tennis player and it was a lot of fun to share the court with him today.
“I’m just thankful to stay calm. 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, somehow getting my racquet on it and luckily I finished it off.”
Korda will face Hurkacz on Saturday after the Pole overcame Fabian Marozsan 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Hurkacz is bidding for his third Masters 1000 final appearance (2021 Miami champion, 2022 Montreal runner-up).
nice one, Korda
Great sportsmanship out there…..great tennis as well.