Ben Shelton couldn’t reach the final four in Houston as he was defeated by Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4.
The 2024 champion was stunned by the world number 83 as he fell to defeat in the quarter-finals with the Argentinian scoring one of his best wins of his career on the red dirt.
Despite winning the opening set on a tiebreak, Shelton was unable to recreate his past success as he fell to a three set defeat.
As for Tirante the Argentinian was delighted with scoring one of the best wins of his career, “Very happy with this win, my second Top-10 win, so I am very happy with the work that we are doing with my team,” Tirante told the ATP website.
“I knew that Ben was a very difficult player, a great player, so I had to take more risk at some times of the match. I did. I did sometimes good, I did sometimes bad, but that was the key. [I had to be] mentally strong all the time and try to break the serve. He serves amazing. I did the best possible [job].
“I have the level. Matches are matches. Sometimes you learn, sometimes you win. But I am very happy with this level that I showed to the people here, to myself as well, to my team and I’m very happy with that.”
Tirante will now play compatriot Roman Andres Burruchaga in the semi-finals after he knocked out third seed Learner Tien in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, second seed Frances Tiafoe was forced to save match point against Alexei Popyrin in his 3-6 6-4 7-6(6).
A semi-final spot against Tommy Paul now awaits Tiafoe who admits he was lucky against Popyrin, “Obviously some luck is involved in that, but I’d like to say you create your own luck,” Tiafoe explained to the ATP website.
“Hell of a battle. Just hung tough. Tough conditions out here today and he played well today. Sometimes you’ve just got to put it all on the line and hope for the best and today things went my way.”
Heading into Saturday’s clash Paul leads 3-1 as we know the final will be Argentina v USA but who will represent each country?
