Shelton, Fils surge into Auckland QFs

Ben Shelton is up and running for 2024.

The 21-year-old American notched his first win of the new season Wednesday at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where he overcame Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 6-4. Stepping on court as a top seed for the first time at an ATP Tour event, Shelton recovered well from dropping serve in the opening game for a 71-minute second-round triumph.

“It was definitely a tough match playing against Fabian,” said Shelton in his on-court interview. “I had a tough one against him last year at a Challenger and he beat [Carlos Alcaraz] on arguably his favourite surface last year. So really cool to have a matchup against him, he’s a great player and I know he will have a long future on this Tour. A fun match, but happy to get through it.”

Statement made 💯@BenShelton proves his No.1 seeding with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fabian Marozsan. @ASB_Classic | #ASBClassic pic.twitter.com/ktb7AubrP3

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 10, 2024

Shelton, who powered 30 winners, including 10 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, will take on Roberto Carballes Baena next in Auckland, after the Spaniard downed Sebastian Ofner 7-5, 6-3.

“It was a pretty cool experience out here,” said Shelton, who reached the second round on Auckland debut in 2023. “Last year when I played, we got a lot of rain, I didn’t play any of my matches outside and I didn’t get to see any of [the crowd] out here. So it was a really cool atmosphere, thanks everyone for coming out and it was a blast.”

Arthur Fils continued his solid start to the year by racing past Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-0. The #NextGenATP Frenchman needed just 52 minutes to prevail in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with the Portuguese World No. 66.

Fils, a finalist at the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah last month, converted five of seven break points he earned and dropped just six points on serve against Borges. Having also reached the last eight in Hong Kong last week, the 19-year-old sixth seed is now into consecutive ATP Tour quarter-finals for the first time.

_{^{Arthur Fils celebrates after beating Nuno Borges on Wednesday in Auckland. Photo Credit: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images}}

His next opponent in New Zealand will be Daniel Altmaier, who upset fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(9), 7-5 to deny the Canadian a winning start to the year. Altmaier saved four set points before clinching a marathon first-set tie-break that set him on course for a two-hour, 35-minute win in his first tour-level meeting with Auger-Aliassime.

In the final match of the day, two-time Auckland finalist Cameron Norrie held firm in the face of Luca Van Assche resistance to reach the quarter-finals in the city where he grew up. Norrie let slip a match point in the second-set tie-break and then fell an early break behind in the decider but rallied superbly for a two-hour, 28-minute triumph.

Alexandre Muller, Taro Daniel and Alejandro Tabilo also booked quarter-final berths on Wednesday. Muller downed third seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 6-1, while his next opponent Daniel overcame eighth seed Max Purcell 6-2, 6-4. Chilean qualifier Tabilo defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5, 6-3 to advance to face Norrie.