MELBOURNE, Australia – Tommy Paul reached his first Grand Slam semi-final and ended Ben Shelton’s surprising winning streak by winning the American matchup at the Australian Open 7-6(6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Paul, a 25-year-old from Recent Jersey, is the first man from his country to succeed in the final 4 at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009. Roddick was also the last US man to win a Grand Slam singles championship, at the US Open 20 years ago.
Rank 35, Paul was a junior star, winning the title in 2015 at the French Open and reaching the final at Flushing Meadows later that 12 months. As knowledgeable, he has one tournament title to his name, in Stockholm in 2021, and has reached the fourth round of just one Grand Slam tournament up to now this week – at Wimbledon a 12 months ago.
His semi-final opponent will likely be 21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or seed 5 Andrei Rublev. Djokovic went into the match on Wednesday night with a profession record of 43-10 in the major quarter-finals; The ruble rating at this stage was 0-6.
The opposite men’s semi-final on Friday was No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas against No. 18 Karen Khachanov.
The ladies’s semi-finals on Thursday night (3:30 a.m. EST) will face two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, and No. 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded Magda Linette.
Azarenka, the 33-year-old oldest woman to retire, and Rybakina, the youngest 23-year-old, each advanced in victories on Tuesday; Sabalenka and Linette won the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Sabalenka improved to 9-0 in 2023 without dropping a set, saving 12 of 14 break points, defeating Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-2.
Linette has never advanced past the third round in 29 other Grand Slam tournaments – and was eliminated in the first round in 17 of them – but continues to be in the game after a 6-3, 7-5 win over two-time Grand Slam finalist Karolina Pliskova. Linette’s ability to interrupt and rating troubled Pliskova, who finished with the same variety of wins, 18, but way more unforced errors, 36 to 16.
“Some players feel that the court is a bit greater and so they have a number of places to play,” Pliskova said of the Forty fifth-ranked Linette. “But together with her, I didn’t really feel that way.”
Sabalenka have reached their fourth semi-final in their last six major appearances, but up to now have a 0-3 record at this stage.
“I feel a little bit different. I feel I lost those three semi-finals only because I wasn’t very calm on the court. I used to be exaggerating. I actually desired to get (a) Slam. I used to be in a fantastic hurry. I used to be very nervous. Screaming, doing all these items,” Sabalenka said. “Immediately, I’m a little bit calmer on the court. I actually imagine that is the only thing missing from my game. If I can stay focused and calm on the court, I can get through this.
Paul receives far less attention in Melbourne than his younger, less experienced compatriot, Shelton.
Perhaps it was less a mirrored image on Paul and easily more a fascination with Shelton, who had come out of nowhere: he was only 20 years old, making his first trip outside the United States, and was only competing in his second Grand Slam tournament lower than a 12 months after winning an NCAA title for the University of Florida.
So the loud cheers of support most frequently heard at the Rod Laver Arena under the sun, which soared to 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday afternoon, were to certainly one of the couple: “Let’s go, Benny! Let’s go!” or “Benny, Benny, Benny! Oh oh oh!” or “Go, alligators!”
Still, Paul’s story is pretty good too.
Based solely on the rating, Paul offered a much tougher test than anyone Shelton had faced on his method to this round: Not only was Shelton not playing any seed, his opponents were ranked 67th, 96th, 1st . 113 and No. 154.
Paul, for his part, pulled out two seeds: No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The matchup was the first singles quarterfinal between two Americans at any Grand Slam tournament since 2007, when Roddick beat Mardy Fish in Melbourne, and Paul was generally content to dam those big left-handed serves that kept coming from Shelton after which did, what could to get a greater baseline backwards and forwards.
Paul was more stable than spectacular, limiting his mistakes with tight swings from each wings.
Despite their age difference, Shelton and Paul know one another. Shelton called Paul “an excellent friend” and credited him with being “certainly one of the Americans who almost took me under their wing, kind of helped me through a few of the early stages of my profession.”
They shared a light-weight moment during the most significant match of their lives when Paul’s coach Brad Stine told him to search for a serve down the “T” on the ad side. As an alternative, upon noticing the suggestion, Shelton made a large pass, leaving Paul out of position and with no likelihood of creating an ace. Each players smiled.
Already in two sets, Paul broke and led 4-3 in the third, then served for 30-love. But he got a little bit lost. He missed a forehand, was forced right into a improper forehand, committed a double fault, and missed a forehand to be broken for the first time in the match.
Shelton broke again to steal the set as Paul sailed a protracted backhand. Shelton – the way more demonstrative of the two players – shouted “Yes!” as he raised his left fist after which pointed his index finger at his ear, as if saying to the crowd, “Allow them to hear you!”
Possibly Shelton relaxed a bit there, because he began the fourth set slowly, double-faulting twice in a row after which missing his backhand, which gave Paul a present that quickly took a 2-0 lead.
Soon Paul let loose an exclamation of enjoyment—“Let’s go!” — after the last point, then meeting Shelton by the net for a warm hug.