A big fortnight for On tennis players comes to a close in Flushing Meadows, New York. 20-year-old American Ben Shelton turned heads with a sensational run at one of tennis’s biggest stages to reach the men’s semi-finals, while Brazilian Joao Fonseca went home with the junior boys’ trophy.
The youngest American man to reach the US Open semi-finals since Michael Chang in 1992 had the hopes of most of the 24,000 spectators riding on him. Shelton offered blistering serves and his special brand of a baseline power game. The Floridian basked in the atmosphere and support of his home crowd and brought the fight to the 23-time Grand Slam winner. Ultimately, however, Novak Djokovic’s one-of-a-kind level of consistency paired with long years of experience proved to be too hard for the 20-year-old to contend with, leading to a three-set loss.
Still, Shelton’s exploit comes on the heels of a very successful run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open this year and had a lot of positives to take away. On his way to the semi-finals, he eliminated Argentina’s Pedro Cachin (1:6, 6:3, 6:2, 6:4), former world no. 3, Dominic Thiem, who had to retire due to illness, and Aslan Karatsev (6:4, 3:6, 6:2, 6:0). He also beat two seeded players and fellow Americans: No. 14 seed Tommy Paul in four sets in Round 4, and No. 10 seed Frances Tiafoe in four sets in the quarterfinals.
In what proved to be a sensationally successful tournament for him, Shelton also reached the semi-finals in the mixed doubles with his partner Taylor Townsend.
17-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca won his first-ever Junior Grand Slam with a 4:6, 6:4, 6:3 victory over 11th seed Learner Tien from the USA. Fonseca was a fighter, coming back from a set down, and saved 11 of the 15 break points he faced.
For Fonseca, it was his first junior Grand Slam final appearance three quarterfinal losses, including one against his opponent Tien at Roland Garros.
In New York, he beat Netherlands’ Mees Rottgering, Switzerlands Patrick Schoen, Fabio De Michele from Italy, and no. 3-seed Cooper Williams from the USA. He had to fight hard to reach the final in a long day with two suspensions due to the heat first, then due to rain against Italian Federico Cina in 6:4, 3:6, and 6:4.
With his win, Fonseca also jumps to Nr.1 in the Junior Ranking.
