By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 12, 2023
Sebastian Korda converted his sixth match point edging Ben Shelton 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6) in a thriller to reach his first career Masters 1000 semifinal in Shanghai.
Photo credit: Fred Lee/Getty
An explosive all-American quarterfinal clash escalated with friendly fire and came down to fight and flight.
Feeling five straight match points slip from his grip, Sebastian Korda didn’t shrink from the sight of hard-charging Ben Shelton.
More: Korda vs. Shelton in All-American Shanghai Showdown
A calm Korda closed this tiebreak tug of war with one final passionate pull.
Soaring forward on his sixth match point, Korda knocked off a forehand volley subduing Shelton 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6) in a thriller to reach his first career Masters 1000 semifinal at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The pair who pushed each other all over the court for two hours, 54 minutes, shared a warm embrace at net taking a moment to praise each other.
Summing up the sentiments of many who watch this heart-racing drama, Korda signed the court-side camera lens “USA” drawing a heart next to it in what may well be the first of many gripping battles between the two friends and potential future rivals.
“I played an incredible match, Ben did as well. So I think it was really high level,” Korda said. “We had a lot of great points out there.
“Hopefully it's the first of many, many battles that we play against each other. He’s such an electric tennis player and it’s a lot of fun to share the court with him today.”
A red-hot Korda, who knocked off world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the third round, advanced to his third straight semifinal.
The 26th-seeded Korda will face former Miami Open champion Hubert Hurkacz for a spot in his first Masters final.
Earlier, the 16th-seeded Hurkacz fought off Fabian Marozsan 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 on the strength of 18 aces. Korda is chasing his second career title and first hard-court crown in what will be the biggest match of his young career.
At the Australian Open in January, Korda out-dueled Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(7), to reach his maiden major quarterfinal.
"Definitely going to be fun," Korda said. "I'm going to have to return really well again. For me, he's, honestly, one of the best servers on tour, he's got a super tricky serve. He's a great athlete, goes to the net really well. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting, for sure.
"Hopefully, I return well, serve well, and we'll see what happens."
The first all-American Masters 1000 quarterfinal since 2017 Cincinnati when John Isner beat Jared Donaldson came with high stakes: The winner would be the first American man to reach the Shanghai semifinals.
This was such dizzying drama, it’s almost surprising Shanghai fans weren’t suffering from vertigo after a three-set, topsy-turvy thrill ride.
The 21-year-old Shelton slammed an ace to seal his fifth set point in the opening tiebreaker only to see Korda break him four times in a row as the US Open semifinalist went nearly an hour without holding serve.
Seemingly down and out at 2-4 in the final set, Shelton stormed back then made a rousing run from 1-6 down in the final tiebreaker to level and narrowly miss a forehand that would have given him a match point.
Credit Korda for his composure withstanding Shelton’s comeback and 17 aces from the former all-American at Florida. Korda converted five of 16 break points, kept his composure at crunch time and at times carved up Shelton’s two-handed backhand from the baseline.
“Don’t remind me,” Korda said of his squandered five match points. “Just thankful to stay calm. I [missed] some match points, but I always believed in myself, even at six-all I thought about putting the return in the court somehow getting my racquet on it and luckily I finished it off.”
Despite a second set that saw Shelton lose his legs and serve for a bit, this maiden blockbuster battle between two superb shotmakers more than matched the hype—and was played with shared sportsmanship, mutual respect and running resilience—giving American tennis fans hope for future high profile showdowns.
The maiden meeting between these two terrific talents saw Korda land 12 consecutive first serves at the start building a 3-2 lead.
Shelton broke for 6-5 when Korda bumped a backhand volley into net. Serving for a one-set lead, Shelton saw Korda elevate attacking to break back at love and force the tiebreaker.
Good sportsmanship and mutual respect were on display in the first-set breaker. When the chair umpire failed to see Korda extend a finger to challenge a Shelton ace, the US Open semifinalist told the chair “you can give him the challenge” noting he saw his opponent gesture.
Later, Korda over-ruled a line call against himself, ceding an ace to Shelton, though Hawk-Eye replay showed the serve landed slightly wide.
On his fifth set point, Shelton zapped his ninth ace down the T to seal a pulsating 67-minute opening set. Shelton smacked nine aces against no double faults in that opening set.
Despite squeezing out the opening set, Shelton wasn’t finding first serves to start the second set. Facing triple break point, Shelton saved the first two, but could not handle a Korda drive down the line as the world No. 26 broke to open the second set. Korda backed up the break at 30 for a 2-0 second-set lead.
Peppering the Shelton two-hander with crosscourt forehands, Korda cornered his opponent on that wing before banging a clean forehand winner down the line for his third straight break and a 3-0 lead.
An assertive Shelton exploited a Korda double fault and thumped a smash to break back in the fourth game.
Straddling the baseline and taking the ball earlier than his opponent, Korda was playing off the front foot forcing Shelton into defensive positions.
Losing a bit of sting off his serve, Shelton was countering Korda’s drives off the back foot. Korda banged out his fourth consecutive break for 4-1.
A flagging Shelton was struggling for success on second serve, yet pulled off a fantastic running flick from the doubles alley denying a fourth set point. Shelton dug in holding for 2-5.
A confident Korda cranked a forehand down the line to force a final set after one hour, 51 minutes.
Seeing Shelton’s legs lagging, Korda broke a love to start the final set then hit a leaping overhead to consolidate for 2-0.
Rousing himself, Shelton reeled off seven straight points to earn triple break point in the fourth game.
Unfazed by the pressure, Korda used a high backhand volley and an ace to erase the deficit, holding firm for 3-1.
Teetering on the double break-point brink in the seventh game, Shelton steadied himself. One point away from seeing Korda serve for the semifinal, Shelton smacked some of his biggest serves of the set saving break points and holding for 3-4.
The sheer force of Shelton’s swing proved painful as he hit himself on the top of the head with his Yonex stick on the follow through. Shaking that self-inflicted head shot, off Shelton won the next point to earn double break point. Korda strayed a backhand as Shelton broke back for 4-all while pressing his hand against his head.
A clever Korda carved out his second drop shot of the match to start the ninth game and Shelton followed with his fifth double fault to fall into love-30. Facing double break point, Shelton slammed an ace down the T to deny the first break point. A gutsy second serve down the middle erased the second.
Curling his 17th ace out wide, Shelton erupted in a scream capping a hard-fought hold for 5-4 and putting the pressure right back on Korda, who had dropped four of the last five games. A calm Korda answered stamping a love hold to level after 10 games.
Contesting his second career Masters 1000 quarterfinal, Korda stamped another love hold to force the final tiebreaker.
Bursting out to a 3-0 lead, Korda stepped in a bolted a beautiful backhand return winner down the line extending his breaker lead to 4-1.
A composed Korda played an assertive point for 5-1—his 11th straight serve point won. Korda coaxed an errant slice backhand for a fistful of match points at 6-1.
The left-hander saved both match points on his serve.
Stepping to the line, Korda was in prime position for a volley but bumped it into net as Shelton erased a third match point creeping closer at 4-6. Korda narrowly missed a crosscourt backhand and shook his head at the hubris playing for the line on match point.
Back on serve, Shelton soared for a smash saving his fifth match point to level 6-6.
The pair changed ends with Korda re-adjusting his headband and trying to shake free the memories of four straight errors on match point.
Lining up his favored forehand, Shelton went for it down the line, but over-hit his drive giving Korda a sixth match point.
Streaking forward, Korda knocked off a forehand volley to end a thriller.
Ultimately, strong self-belief helped Korda withstand this all-American stress test.
"I was never in doubt in that moment," Korda said with a laugh afterward. "No, I was definitely, yeah, you got to kind of just take a couple deep breaths and you got to refocus yourself. But it's also good, you know, this kind of experience, for the next time it happens, I think it's a nice little thing for me. You just got to really believe in yourself in those situations. You know, really, yeah, go after it.
"I got a little bit lucky that the balls were already super heavy, so his serve wasn't going through the court super quick, so I had an opportunity to get a racquet on it. Then, just played a good point after that. But, yeah, you just got to stay calm, believe in yourself, and hope for the win."
The pair shared a warm embrace and words at net with Shelton impressed with Korda’s backhand return off a couple of 140 mph missiles he threw down.
“I’ve been playing some good tennis the last few weeks,” Korda said. “Hopefully, I can keep it going and keep playing the way I’m playing.”