Shelton beats Sonego again to reach Wimbledon quarter-finals

LONDON (AP) — Ben Shelton reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal — doing a round better than his father-turned coach, Bryan, did in 1994 — by beating Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 7-5 on Monday.

Shelton, a 22-year-old American who won the 2022 NCAA singles title for the University of Florida, improved to 3-0 against Italy's Sonego in Grand Slam action this season. It’s the first time two men faced each other in a year’s initial three majors since John McEnroe went 3-0 against Jimmy Connors in 1984.

The 10th-seeded Shelton also eliminated Sonego in the Australian Open's quarterfinals in January, and the French Open's first round in May.

“Every time I need a big point, he comes up with a highlight shot,” Shelton said, “and maybe the same, vice versa.”

Shelton finished this latest meeting with a flourish, breaking the 47th-ranked Sonego to avoid heading to a tiebreaker, then throwing his head back, yelling “Come on!” and pounding his chest.

“I’m happy with the way that I played that last game. I feel like that was my best tennis, my best returning, and that’s what I'm going to need to continue in this tournament,” said Shelton, who advanced to a matchup against No. 1 Jannik Sinner. “So for me to end the match with that sort of game gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Sinner hurt his right elbow on a fall in the first game Monday and lost the first two sets, but advanced when No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov stopped in the third because of a chest muscle injury.

Shelton has lost his last five matchups against Sinner, all in straight sets, including in Wimbledon's fourth round a year ago and in the Australian Open semifinals in January.

“The guy’s a machine,” Shelton said.

Up in the stands at No. 1 Court were Shelton's parents, his sister Emma — who stuck around at the All England Club after he made a public plea for her not to have to return to her job at Morgan Stanley on Monday, as originally planned — and his girlfriend, U.S. national soccer team star Trinity Rodman.

“I've got a lot of people that I love over there,” Shelton said during his on-court interview.

He credited his father with inspiring the way he plays on grass courts.

“He was in the round of 16 here — 31 years ago? Give or take. He was a serve-and-volleyer. Big serve. Came forward all the time. He would like to see me coming forward a little bit more than I am. My argument is I think I'm better than him from the baseline,” Shelton said.

But he's also showing that he has a knack for success on the slick surface, doing the sorts of things that constitute what Shelton termed “vintage style” tennis of moving forward and cutting off angles and generally being “a little bit unpredictable."

Against Sonego, Shelton won the point on 43 of his 58 trips to the net, including 11 of 17 when serve-and-volleying.

If he can produce those sorts of numbers in his next match, that could help get him to a third career Grand Slam semifinal, after the 2023 U.S. Open and this year's Australian Open.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis