Ben Shelton overcame Luciano Darderi 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 13 minutes in the quarter final of the BMW Open in Munich to reach his second semifinal this year following his run to the final four at the Australian Open where he lost to world number Jannik Sinner.
Shelton extend the win-loss record to 2-0 in his head-to-head series against his Italian opponent following his victory in Houston.
Shelton was not able to convert a break point in the fifth game. Both players went on serve until the 10th game when Shelton earned a break on his first set point.
Darderi broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Shelton won four games in a row with two consecutive breaks to take a 5-2 lead. Darderi saved two match points in the eighth game at 3-5, but Shelton converted his third opportunity with an ace.
“I feel pretty good moving around, sliding, getting into drop shots, defending, playing offensively. I was kind of like a deer on ice a couple of years ago, but I have evolved a lot. I am not the player I want to be yet but I am working towards it for sure”, said Shelton.
Shelton set up a match against world number 22 Francisco Cerundolo, who beat David Goffin 6-2 6-4 to reach the semifinal. Cerundolo earned an early break at 15 in the second game of the first set to open up a 2-0 lead. Goffin converted his second break-back in the third game to reduce his gap to 1-2. Cerundolo broke for the second time at love in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead before holding serve at 15 for 4-1. The Argentine player closed out the first set 6-2 with his third break in the eighth game.
Cerundolo broke at love in the second game of the second set to open up a 2-0 lead. Goffin broke back at deuce in the third game. The Belgian player saved two break points to hold serve after three deuces for 2-2. Cerundolo sealed the second set 6-4 with a break on his fourth match point.
