{"id":293278,"date":"2023-10-12T15:25:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T15:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=293278"},"modified":"2023-10-12T15:25:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T15:25:06","slug":"sebastian-korda-defeats-ben-shelton-to-book-first-atp-1000-semi-final-in-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/tennis\/sebastian-korda-defeats-ben-shelton-to-book-first-atp-1000-semi-final-in-shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Korda defeats Ben Shelton to book first ATP 1000 semi-final in Shanghai"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Sebastian Korda won the battle of the young Americans to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.<\/p>\n
Korda recovered from a set down to defeat Ben Shelton 6-7 (10) 6-2 7-6 (6) at the Shanghai Masters in a clash lasting two hours and 55 minutes.<\/p>\n
It was the first all-American quarter-final at a Masters 1000 event for six years and it did not disappoint, with the explosive Shelton finally taking his fifth chance to win the opening-set tie-break having earlier failed to serve it out.<\/p>\n
Korda, two years older at 23, hit back strongly and Shelton appeared to be flagging physically when he trailed by a break in the deciding set.<\/p>\n
But he fought back to level and saved five match points from 1-6 in the deciding tie-break before Korda clinched his sixth opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super cool,\u201d said Korda. \u201cI played a really high level. Ben did as well. We had a lot of great points out there and hopefully it\u2019s the first of many battles that we play against each other. He\u2019s such an electric tennis player and it was a lot of fun to share the court with him today.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the last four, Korda will take on 16th seed Hubert Hurkacz, who ended the surprise run of Hungarian Fabian Marozsan with a 4-6 6-1 6-3 victory.<\/p>\n