Ben Shelton continues his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title after defeating Casper Ruud in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
The American came back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and set up a quarterfinal matchup with Jannik Sinner.
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Shelton is one of two Americans remaining in the draw at Melbourne Park, with 20-year-old Learner Tien also remaining in the draw.
With his win over Rudd, Shelton now joins an exclusive club with two of the best players in the world in Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Photo by Chloe Davis/Getty Images
Ben Shelton scores impressive performance at Australian Open
Shelton has now reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the fifth time in his career, becoming one of three players born in the 2000s to achieve the milestone, reports Channel
Only Sinner and Alcaraz have reached more quarter-finals than the American star, with the “new duo” each reaching 14 Grand Slam quarter-finals.
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Shelton reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2023 Australian Open and reached the U.S. Open semifinals later that season.
In 2025, he reached the semi-finals again at the Australian Open and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, enjoying his best results at Wimbledon.
Photo by Chloe Davis/Getty Images
Ben Shelton says he feels ‘confident’ in his net performance in Melbourne
Shelton put on an impressive serve-and-volley performance against Luther, dropping just one point in four sets.
At the post-match press conference, he said: “I think I hit a lot of balls today and made a lot of mistakes. If it was in the past, I would have missed a lot of volleys.”
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“But I’m pretty confident in my game at the net now. I think I’m making great decisions so I don’t have to overdo it.
“I thought I was serving right, hitting the ball right, timing it right, and I think that’s why I won a lot of points. I was able to get close to the net.”
“You know, when my opponent was far away from the baseline, I was able to take advantage of that and use volleys when I needed to. I just thought my decision-making was pretty clean today.”
Shelton has lost eight games in a row against Sinner, his next opponent. His last victory over the Italian was at the 2023 Shanghai Masters.
