Sebastian Korda sends his love to the USA after beating Ben Shelton in all-American Shanghai Masters QF
American tennis player Sebastian Korda defeated compatriot Ben Shelton 6-7 (10), 6-2, 7-6 (6) to advance into the semifinals of the ongoing Shanghai Masters.
Seeded 26th in the tournament, Korda sent his love to the USA after getting the better of Shelton. Korda ended up on the right side of the pulsating contest with both players vying to reach their first Masters semifinal.
Korda is now the first semifinalist from the United States in the Shanghai Masters' history. He also improved to 7-5 against top-20 opponents this season.
Post the match, Sebastian Korda signed the camera and sent his love to all fans back home.
"USA," he signed with a heart emoticon.
The American will be up against Hubert Hurkacz for a spot in the Shanghai Masters final. Hurkacz beat Fabian Marozsan 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the other quarterfinals.
Sebastian Korda making the right moves
The Shanghai Masters will be a tournament to remember for Sebastian Korda. The 23-year-old American has been making the right moves, registering 10 wins out of 12 matches he has played in the recent past.
He continued his purple patch as he was calm and composed to thwart Ben Shelton's energetic approach to storm into his first ATP 1000 semifinals.
Ben Shelton sent down 17 aces and had five match points in the deciding set's tie-break, but, it was Korda who came on top.
Korda started the match on a confident note, but Shelton had the last laugh in the first set after the 23-year-old was found wanting on many occasions against Shelton's strong serve. Shelton saved a set point at 8-9 in the tie-break before converting his own fifth set point to win the first set.
Korda then restored parity as he broke Shelton thrice in the second set. The World No. 26 then grew in confidence in the third set and surged 4-2 ahead, but Shelton came back into the match briefly with some thunderous forehand winners to set up a closing tie-break drama.
The 21-year-old, however, soon lost steam as Korda converted five of 16 break points he earned to win the match.
Notably, Sebastian Korda defeated World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the round-of-32 in ongoing tournament. He will meet 16th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals.