ATP Tour

Shelton in trouble vs. Baez as rain ends Thursday play in Auckland

Top seed Ben Shelton will have plenty of work to do when quarter-final play resumes at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Rain interrupted the Thursday schedule at the ATP 250, bringing an early close to the action with seventh seed Sebastian Baez leading the No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings Shelton 7-5, 0-1, 30/15. Baez broke Shelton’s lefty serve three times in a topsy-turvy opening set to move within a set of a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head triumph against the American.

Sealed in style 💫

Sebastian Baez takes the opening set against Shelton, 7-5.@ASB_Classic | #ASBClassic26 pic.twitter.com/O9NqN1upGx

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 15, 2026

The pair is scheduled to return to court to finish their encounter on Friday afternoon in Auckland, where the winner will take on Marcos Giron in the semi-finals. The American rallied past Luciano Darderi 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the only completed quarter-final of the day in New Zealand.

Giron converted five of 10 break points he earned against Darderi, according to Infosys ATP stats, en route to a two-hour, 36-minute triumph. The American is the first man to reach multiple tour-level semi-finals this season after he also reached that stage in Hong Kong last week.

“It was tough, but that’s why we play best out of three sets,” said Giron when asked about his difficult start to the match. “One set it sucks to lose, but I guess why not lose fast and then move forward!”

Two other quarter-finals were cut short during the first set on Thursday in Auckland. Fabian Marozsan led Eliot Spizziri 5-4, 30/30 when the rain arrived, while Jakub Mensik was serving at 0/30 against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard when play was suspended.