Ben Shelton is coming into his own as a top-flight talent this summer on the North American hard courts. And he’s just getting started.
The 22-year-old American took out Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-4 on Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati to stretch his current winning streak to nine. Last week in Toronto, Shelton became the youngest American to win a Masters title since 2004, and he has continued his surge with three more wins in Cincinnati, where he will face Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals on Friday.
If Shelton can win that match he’d assure himself of a Top-5 ranking.
Already, Shelton is first American man to reach the last eight in Canada and Cincinnati in the same season since Mardy Fish in 2012.
“I’m hungry. I’m in a good rhythm,” Shelton told Jill Craybas on court after his win, when asked about the key to his recent uptick. “I think the confidence along with not being satisfied, wanting to prove myself over and over every time that I’m out on the court, and having things that I want to get better at is a huge motivation for me and it pushes me every match.”
Shelton has lost all three of his previous matches to Zverev.
He won 26 of 32 first-serve points against Lehecka and broke the 22nd-seeded Czech three times.
Shelton stormed late in the first, breaking for 5-4, before serving out the set at love.
From 2-0 down the southpaw went on to break Lehecka twice, including another break for 5-4, before he served out the match at 15.
