Ben Shelton returned to the Australian Open quarter finals after Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw from the match due to a back injury. Shelton reached the quarter final in Melbourne for the first time on his debut at this tournament in 2023.
Shelton was leading 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-2) 1-0 after 2 hours and 55 minutes before Monfils pulled out. Monfils was on an eight-win match streak.
Both Shelton played three hard-fought sets, which were all decided in tie-breaks. Monfils began struggling when he went down two sets to one.
The first set went on serve with no breaks of serve en route to tie-break. Monfils earned an early mini-break to take a 2-0 lead. Shelton won seven of the next eight points with three mini-breaks to clinch the tie-break 7-3. Shelton saved three break points in the eighth game. Monfils fended off two break points in the ninth game. The set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Monfils went up a 3-0 lead with two mini-breaks. Shelton pulled one break back for 1-3, but Monfils sealed the tie-break with his tie-break 7-3.
Monfils earned the first break of the match in the third game of the third set to take a 2-1 lead. Shelton broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 4-4. Monfils started the third tie-break with a mini-break, but Shelton won seven of the next eight points to win the tie-break 7-2.
Monfils needed a medical time-out before the match resumed in the fourth set. The French 38-year-old veteran was broken in the first game and trailed 0-40 in the second game before he was unable to continue the match.
“Gael is someone I have watched since I was a kid. He is a legend of tennis. I always say he has the greatest highlight tape of all time, and you saw some of that tonight. At 38 years oll, I hope I am still walking without crutches. To push me the way he did today and entertain everyone in New Zealand and Australia in the way he has the last couple of weeks is so impressive. I hope to be able to create some memories like that with my family watching on at the age, because it’s really special and unheard of in any other sport. There is a lot of things that makes that guy a nightmare to play. I can’t imagine playing him when he was 21, 22 like me”, said Shelton.
Shelton finished the match with 16 more matches than unforced errors and came forward at the net 47 times with a 70% success rate.
“Obviously he has played a lot of matches. I wanted to make it as physical as possible. There is a lot of things that he does unbelievable well: counter-punching, making you feel uncomfortable on the court. Getting to net and being able to shorten some of those points where he likes to run was really important”, said Shelton.
Shelton set up a quarter final match against Lorenzo Sonego, who beat US qualifier Learner Tien 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-1.
