Sinner spoils Shelton's birthday with Shanghai revenge

For the second straight year at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton met in the fourth round. On Wednesday, Sinner reversed last season's result to deny the American the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking on his 22nd birthday.

Sinner scored a 6-4, 7-6(1) win in an entertaining match full of electric shotmaking, improving to 4-1 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The World No. 1 has not lost to Shelton since their first meeting last year in Shanghai, when the American came from behind to prevail in a third-set tie-break.

"It was very tough. He played only first serves, except one second serve," Sinner said, referring to Shelton's incredible 95 per cent first-serve percentage in the opening set. "I tried to wait a little bit. Obviously playing against him, even if it's a second serve, it's very tough to return.

"But if I look the positive picture, how I ended the match, I tried to stay a bit more aggressive, which I've done, and this hopefully can give me confidence for the for the next round."

The ATP Tour leader in wins (62) and titles (six) this season, Sinner is now through to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year — the most in a single season since Alexander Zverev's seven in 2018. The 23-year-old has reached the quarters in all 14 events he has entered this season.

Players to reach 7+ ATP Masters 1000 QFs in a season (since 2014)

Sinner held firm in the face of a ferocious start from Shelton, who won his first 16 service points and created the first two break points at 2-1 in the opening set. In the ninth game of the first set, the Italian fended off a Shelton overhead to earn his first break point of the match, with the pressure yielding a 5-4 lead before he served out the set to love.

Shelton employed the drop shot to great effect throughout the match, but it was Sinner who snuck one in to fight off a break point at 2-3 in set two. The American again threatened with Sinner serving at 3-4, but this time Sinner leaned on his serve to escape 0/40. Sinner saved all seven break points against him — two in the first set and five in the second — according to Infosys ATP Stats.

A Sinner special in Shanghai ✨@janniksin | @SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/bQibf80NO7

All four of their previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings included a tie-break, so it was fitting that a tie-break decided the second set in Shanghai. Shelton took the opening point on serve, but Sinner sprinted through the finish line by winning the next seven, finding his best ball-striking at the crucial moment to wrap up the win in one hour, 28 minutes.

Sinner will next face Daniil Medvedev for the fifth time this year in a bid to reach the last four in Shanghai. Medvedev secured his 10th win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday with a commanding performance, prevailing 7-6(3), 6-3 in one hour and 50 minutes.

In their first meeting of the 2024 season, Medvedev improved to 10-4 in their intriguing Lexus ATP Head2Head series, following on from wins in Rome and Vienna last year. The World No. 5 was forced to close out the opening set via a dominant tie-break after failing to convert any of the six break points he produced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Tsitsipas surged to a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Medvedev rattled off six of the next seven games to seal victory and book his ticket to his fourth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year.

Currently in fourth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, Medvedev has bolstered his hopes of securing a sixth consecutive Nitto ATP Finals appearance, having won the tournament in 2021.

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