US Open star's reaction to opponent smashing record fast aces says it all
America's Ben Shelton delivered one of the best performances of his career to upset his countryman Tommy Paul at Flushing Meadows on Sunday, and he set a new benchmark for the tournament in the process.
Powered by his fearsome serve, the 20-year-old took down the 14th seed in four sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and Paul's reaction from across the net summed up Shelton's incredible performance.
In one game, Shelton smashed aces of 147mph, 149mph and 149mph, setting a new fastest serve for the US Open this year, and coming close to Andy Roddick's all-time US Open record of 152mph. And with his victory, Shelton became the youngest man since Roddick to make the US Open quarter-finals since 21 years ago.
The lefty was just too powerful for Paul in the big moments and he claimed a memorable 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory in front of a sold-out crowd. And although Paul will be hugely disappointed his tournament is over, he showed his class during the match by applauding Shelton's fastest ace when the speed appeared on the screen.
They were the fastest serves of Shelton's career so far, although they were not the fastest in the world this year. Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard hit a 152mph bomb at Roland Garros earlier in the summer, while Australia's Sam Groth hit the fastest serve of all time in 2012, reaching an astonishing 163.7mph.
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But Shelton's game is more rounded and he showed all of his skills to claim victory over Paul, saving 11 break points en route to victory. It was all the sweeter for Shelton as he was dumped out of the Australian Open quarter-finals by Paul earlier this year, and he says he has come a long way in the past few months.
"I really learned how to be mentally tough," Shelton said in his post-match press conference. "You know, when I was playing in Australia after a long week, I was looking at my box, saying, ‘My legs are dead. I'm tired. I can’t go anymore '.
"I realised how important it is for me to believe in myself, believe that I can go all the way, the full distance, emotionally and physically, and now I have that belief here.”
And the 20-year-old revealed after his third-round win over Aslan Karatsev that his father is not a fan when he tries to unleash all of his speed on his serve.
"Dad is always upset when I go for the bombs," he joked after the four-set win. "He was saying to me after the match, he's like, I know you looked at the clock, looked right at it after. They had a little I guess statistic up on the screen of the fastest serves of the tournament. He's like, 'I know you were looking up at that, too, to see you were number one on the leaderboard'. He gave me a hard time about it."
Shelton was the first man through to the quarter-finals and he set up a tantalizing potential clash with fellow American Frances Tiafoe. Shelton will play either Tiafoe or Australia's Rinky Hijikata for a place in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
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