Ben Shelton’s run at the Washington Open has come to an end after losing in the semi-final to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Davidovich Fokina defeated Shelton in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to the fourth tour-level final of his career.
The Spaniard, still in pursuit of a maiden ATP title, has now cracked the world’s top 20, and can rise as high as number 17 if he beats Alex de Minaur in the final.
As for the American, however, he’ll now set his sights on the first Masters 1000 event of the US hard-court swing in Toronto, after a ‘disappointing’ end to his campaign in D.C.
Ben Shelton reacts after his loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
In his post-match press conference, Shelton said of Davidovich Fokina: “He’s always solid. He makes a lot of balls.
“He moves well. He’s good at turning defence into offence on the move. Credit to him. I thought he played a great match.
“[He] returned well, was solid from the baseline, played good aggressive tennis, and caused me to press and make a lot of unforced errors.
“I struggled with my serve from the start. I didn’t think that I was moving great, and those two things kinda weighed on the rest of my game.
“I didn’t give myself a chance to play my best tennis today, which was disappointing.”
Ben Shelton says the no-let call in the second set was ‘clear’
At 5-5 in the second set, there was a no-let call on Shelton’s service game, before Davidovich Fokina managed to break his opponent.
The 22-year-old said of the incident: “It was tough. I mean it was a clear let. Foki stopped. I stopped.
“I think when it’s a let that clear, even if the machine doesn’t make the call, the umpire has got to make the call.
“That was a tough one. Can’t say I lost because of that, because I still had an overhead, but yeah, [it] was unfortunate timing.”
Shelton’s draw in Toronto will see him on an early collision course with Frances Tiafoe, whom he defeated in the quarter-finals at the Washington Open.
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