TORONTO — Fourth-seeded Ben Shelton of the United States rallied in the third set to beat 13th-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1) on Sunday night in the National Bank Open.
Shelton overcame a 4-2 deficit in the final set to advance to the quarterfinals Tuesday in the hard-court event that ends Thursday.
After the match, television cameras showed Shelton and Cobolli having words in a heated exchange at the net.
“Really difficult match. I was down and out, being a break down in the third, the way that he was playing,” Shelton said. “I gave myself a second chance and I did a good job with it, kind of running from there. A really difficult opponent for me, someone who’s gotten me in three sets after I’ve won the first set twice.”
Shelton will face ninth-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Frances Tiafoe of the United States 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
The 22-year-old Shelton has two ATP Tour victories, in Tokyo on hard courts in 2023 and Houston on clay last year. The 23-year-old Cobolli won clay events in Hamburg and Bucharest this year for his lone tour titles.
Earlier, sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia led Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 3-0 when Davidovich Fokina retired because of exhaustion.
Rublev will face the winner of the late match between second-seeded Taylor Fritz of the United States and Jiri Lehecka of Czechia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
