Sinner survives Shelton's firepower to reach Indian Wells QFs

Jannik Sinner continued his perfect 2024 season and extended his overall winning streak to 18 matches with a mature performance against home favourite Ben Shelton on Tuesday night at the BNP Paribas Open.

The elder statesman against the 21-year-old American, Sinner kept his composure in the face of Shelton's firepower and leaned on his big-match experience to secure a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory. By reaching the Indian Wells quarter-finals, the 22-year-old earned his 150th hard-court tour-level win (150-46), becoming the first player born since 2000 to reach that milestone.

"For sure it was a different matchup. I knew that obviously playing against him, there's not so much rhythm," Sinner said. "But I think I can be really proud about how I played.

"I just tried to stay positive. There were tough moments, especially in the first set. I'm really happy that I won that, and obviously started really positive in the second set, which gave me a lot of confidence."

The cream rises to the top 👊@janniksin clinches the opening set against Ben Shelton, 7-6(4).@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/BHFHTCgw5H

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 13, 2024

Winner of 35 of his past 37 matches, Sinner is seeking to win his third consecutive title this season after triumphs at the Australian Open and Rotterdam. He is also bidding for his second ATP Masters 1000 crown following his Toronto run last August.

Shelton took the fight to Sinner early in the match, despite windy conditions, and immediately gave the stadium crowd plenty to cheer. His vicious baseline cuts helped create four early break points at 2-2, but Sinner fought them off and scored the match's first break in the following game.

Leaning on his home crowd, Shelton raised his level to fend off a set point and break for 5-5, but his charge ran out of steam after he recovered two mini-breaks to level the tie-break at 4/4. As Sinner steadied, Shelton's forehand began to misfire, costing him the set and an early break in the second.

From 4/4 in the tie-break, Sinner won 15 of 17 points to break open the match with a 3-0 lead in set two. Determined not to give the Italian any rhythm, Shelton continued to attack but could only push his opponent as far as deuce on return for the remainder of the one-hour, 38-minute match.

Shelton was denied his third Top 5 win, with each of his previous two coming at the ATP Masters 1000 level. He previously beat Casper Ruud in Cincinnati in 2022 and Sinner last season in Shanghai.

He now trails Sinner 1-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head after falling short of his first Top 3 win. Sinner is up to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and will hit a career high PIF ATP Ranking on Monday if he matches or betters the Indian Wells result of Carlos Alcaraz.

Next up for Sinner, whose father is with him in Indian Wells, is a quarter-final matchup with 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka. The 22-year-old Czech has won his past six sets in Indian Wells, including straight-sets upsets against fifth seed Andrey Rublev and 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Lehecka did not allow a break point against Rublev on Sunday, and he saved all four of Tsitsipas' break chances on Tuesday.

Did You Know?
Shelton was bidding to become the youngest American quarter-finalist in Indian Wells since 20-year-olds Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri in 2003.