Lorenzo Sonego reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open, but was beaten in four sets by Ben Shelton.
Shelton has matched a Rafael Nadal record as a result, with the American now achieving his best result at the Melbourne major.
In his fourth round match, the 22-year-old won by retirement and Shelton embraced Gael Monfils at the net.
Heading into his second Australian Open quarter-final, Shelton had been backed to beat Sonego and did just that in just under four hours on Rod Laver Arena.
Lorenzo Sonego notices big change in Ben Shelton at Australian Open
The last time that Shelton played Sonego was at Roland Garros two years ago, with it actually being the Italian who won that match.
Since then, Shelton has gone onto win two ATP titles (Tokyo and Houston) and has broken into the top 20 of the rankings.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Sonego was asked about the changes that Shelton has made since their match in 2023.
“I think he’s changed a lot in the two years,” said the Italian. “I played him in Paris two years ago. Yeah, he improved a lot with the serve and also with the forehand. No mistake today. Yeah, a great player now, and he’s in confidence. Yeah, I think he’s a better player than two years ago.”
As a result of his run at the Australian Open, Shelton is one win away from the top 10 of the ATP rankings.
How does Ben Shelton think he has changed since his last Grand Slam semi-final?
Shelton reached his first Grand Slam final at the 2023 US Open, losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
This caused a bit of friction between Shelton and Djokovic, after the Serbian imitated his opponents trademark celebration.
However, things appear to have calmed down between the pair since then and Shelton has actually defended Djokovic at the Australian Open this year.
Over a year on from his first Grand Slam semi-final, Shelton has explained how he believes he has improved since then.
“For me the differences in my game is when I was playing here in 2023, US Open 2023, I felt like everything had to be perfect,” Shelton said in his post-match press conference. “I was red-lining. I was at my limits. I was hitting a lot of winners. I was serving amazing. Everything had to fall in line for that to happen, me to have those runs.
“Lately, especially in the matches here, everything hasn’t been perfect. I had one good serving day out of my five matches. I’ve had to pick up the slack with everything else in my game. I think I’m a much better returner right now than in the past. I’m winning in different ways, for sure.”
Shelton will play world number one Jannik Sinner on Friday January 24, as he looks to reach the Australian Open final.
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