'Clutch' serving sends Shelton to Washington QFs; Tiafoe, Rublev advance

Ben Shelton held his nerve in two tight tie-breaks Thursday to seal his place in the Mubadala Citi DC Open quarter-finals. The second-seeded American ousted countryman Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

The 21-year-old hugged the baseline and produced heavy-hitting, first-strike tennis in humid conditions. Despite letting slip three set points on serve at 5-4 in the first set, Shelton, who on Wednesday won a late night three-setter against Radu Albot, quickly rebounded to win the opener in a tie-break. The lefty won 81 per cent of his first-serve points and hammered 14 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I served amazing today, that was one of the keys for me,” said Shelton, who struck a pair of aces from 5/4 in the second-set tie-break to seal victory. “If you don’t have 100 per cent in the tank, it’s really hard to break serve against a guy like him so I knew that I was going to have to hold serve.

“I did a great job holding serve, got broke once. But my best tennis came out in the tie-break. I thought it was just a clutch performance. I managed my energy well and I’m happy to be through. A really tough opponent.”

Shelton will next face wild card Denis Shapovalov in a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon third round five-setter, which the American won. The Canadian on Thursday rallied past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Hometown hero Frances Tiafoe overcame countryman Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 after two hours, 29 minutes. The 26-year-old struck 16 aces to reach the Washington quarter-finals for the third consecutive year. The fifth seed will next play Andrey Rublev after the top seed beat Arthur Rinderknech.

“For me, getting my confidence back, getting two tough wins in a row is great,” Tiafoe said. “I had 14 aces in the first round and 16 today, so if I can be in a position to win a lot of first-serve points and second-serve points won, I’m in a good spot.”

Rublev is chasing his third title of the season and he reached the quarter-finals when he moved past Frenchman Rinderknech 7-6(4), 6-4.

The 26-year-old fired 32 winners, including 19 aces, to advance after one hour and 29 minutes. Rublev is a two-time semi-finalist in Washington, reaching the last four in 2018 and 2022.

Americans Sebastian Korda and Alex Michelsen also advanced. The fourth seed Korda reached the last eight after Thanasi Kokkinakis retired with the American leading 6-7(1), 7-5, 3-2. Kokkinakis had two match points on serve at 5-4 in the second set. #NextGenATP Michelsen downed South Korean Seongchan Hong 6-3, 6-3.

Michelsen next meets Italian Flavio Cobolli, who earned a memorable win, saving five match points to defeat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(7) in a three-hour, 14-minute marathon. Cobolli, 22, trailed 2/6 in the tie-break and again fought off a match point at 6/7. The 10th seed is No. 47 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, one spot ahead of his career-high.

Atlanta finalist and seventh seed Jordan Thompson defeated Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-5, 6-4.

Did You Know?
An American man has not won the Washington title since Andy Roddick in 2007.