Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton set up all-American semifinal in Toronto
The second-seeded Fritz beat No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (4). He hit 20 aces, including one that finished off the match.
"It was clean," Fritz said of his performance. "I'm happy with everything."
Shelton, the No. 4 seed, then beat No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old reached the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time.
The matchup Wednesday between Fritz and Shelton will be the first time since Andy Roddick beat Mardy Fish at Cincinnati in 2010 that two American met in an ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
Fritz won their only previous meeting in 2023 at Indian Wells.
"He's a big-match player," Shelton said. "He's been carrying the flag for the United States in the big tournaments as of late. He's clutch, serves well. We're great friends.
"It's a match that I'm really excited about."
Andy Roddick was the last American men's player to win a Grand Slam when he won the U.S. Open in 2003.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Chennai Grand Masters 2025: Arjun Erigaisi stays in hunt as Vincent Keymer leads after Round 3
Round 3 of the Chennai Grand Masters 2025 saw Vincent Keymer maintain his perfect score to lead the Masters, while Arjun Erigaisi jumped to second place in the table. In the Challengers, M Pranesh and Abhimanyu Puranik are sharing the lead. read more Arjun Erigaisi has taken the sole second after win in Round 3 of Chennai Grand Masters. PTI A fine win by India's Arjun Erigaisi kept him in sole second place after Round 3 of the Chennai Grand Masters 2025 on Saturday, August 9. The world No. 5 beat American GM Ray Robson with the white pieces to reach 2.5 points, just behind leader Vincent Keymer of Germany. Keymer continued his perfect run with a third straight victory, defeating Karthikeyan Murali to stay on top with 3 points. Keymar is now in the top 15 of the FIDE rankings and will be eying a top-10 spot. 'Today's game was maybe the smoothest I've had so far,' he said after making it three out of three. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In other Masters games, Vidit Gujrathi bounced back strongly to beat Nihal Sarin, while American GM Awonder Liang shocked Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest to register his first win. Indian GM Venkatesh Pranav impressed by holding Dutch GM Anish Giri to a draw. In the Challengers section, Abhimanyu Puranik maintained his steady rise with victory over Harshavardhan GB, while M Pranesh defeated P. Iniyan. Leon Luke Mendonca overcame R. Vaishali, while Adhiban Baskaran split point with D. Harika. Aryan Chopra and Diptayan Ghosh also played out a draw. Chennai Grand Masters 2025: Masters standings after Round 3 Rank Player Country Rating Points 1 Vincent Keymer Germany 2730 3 2 Arjun Erigaisi India 2776 2.5 3 Ray Robson USA 2687 1.5 4 Anish Giri Netherlands 2748 1.5 5 Awonder Liang USA 2696 1.5 6 Vidit Gujrathi India 2720 1.5 7 Jorden van Foreest Netherlands 2697 1 8 Karthikeyan Murali India 2658 1 9 V Pranav India 2597 1 10 Nihal Sarin India 2692 0.5 Chennai Grand Masters 2025: Challengers standings after Round 3 Rank Player Country Rating Points 1 M Pranesh India 2589 2.5 2 Abhimanyu Puranik India 2635 2.5 3 Diptayan Ghosh India 2576 2 4 Leon Luke Mendonca India 2606 2 5 Adhiban Baskaran India 2534 1.5 6 P Iniyan India 2586 1.5 7 Vaishali Rameshbabu India 2476 1 8 Aryan Chopra India 2634 1 9 Harika Dronavalli India 2487 0.5 10 Harshavardhan G B India 2454 0.5 (With agency inputs)
News18
3 hours ago
- News18
Bhatia shoots steady 2nd round to stay second in St Jude Championship
Memphis [US], August 10 (ANI): Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia followed up his career-best round of 8-under 62 with a solid second-round 69, bringing his 36-hole total to 9-under par at the St Jude is currently tied for second place with Collin Morikawa and Justin Rose, trailing leader Tommy Fleetwood by four who shot back-to-back rounds of 63 and 64 (13-under), remains at the top of the leaderboard. He is seeking his first PGA TOUR win after several close finishes, including six runner-up results and 42 top-10s since a two-time PGA TOUR winner, recorded two birdies and a bogey in his opening four holes before playing steady golf with 14 consecutive pars. His performance keeps him firmly in the mix going into the weekend, in only his second appearance at this event, where he finished T-12 in World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, fresh off his Open Championship win, sits at 7-under after a second-round 66, despite three bogeys on the back nine. He is tied for seventh with Bud Cauley, Jacob Bridgeman, and Maverick McNealy, who had not completed his round due to weather Rai, another player of Indian origin, carded 70 and 69, putting him at T-39. He currently ranks 55th in the FedExCup standings and will need to crack the Top 50 to qualify for the next round of Kitayama made a big move with a 63, bringing him into the top five and continuing his late-season surge following his win at the 3M Open–weather disruptions, including lightning, forced the suspension of play and the evacuation of the tournament heads into the weekend, all eyes will be on Bhatia and Fleetwood–one looking to continue his rise, the other to finally break through.(ANI)
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Cincinnati Open 2025: Defending champions Sabalenka, Sinner through to third round
World number one Aryna Sabalenka saved 12 break points to survive her Cincinnati opener against Czech Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday, as the men's defending champion Jannik Sinner cruised past Colombian qualifier Daniel Galan 6-1, 6-1. Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye, had not played since her semifinal defeat at Wimbledon and said the downtime served her well as she mounted a tremendous defensive effort to set up a meeting with Briton Emma Raducanu. 'I played so many matches this season, so I'm quite experienced to handle those key moments. Key for me is always to go for it without doubting my decisions. So far, it's been working really well,' Sabalenka told Tennis Channel. Raducanu made easy work of Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-3, 6-2 in her first match under new coach Francisco Roig, after a handful of confidence-building performances this summer that included a trip to the semifinals at the Washington Open. 'I'm building some momentum. I'm really happy with how I've stayed pretty consistent over the last few months,' said Raducanu, who lost to Sabalenka in a third-round thriller at Wimbledon this year. 'I still feel like there's a long way to go, but just working hard behind the scenes, putting a lot of hours in and hoping I can trust in that,' she added. ALSO READ | U.S. Open — Former World No. 2 Badosa out with injury; Jil Teichmann moves into main draw Italy's Sinner, who also took a break following his Wimbledon win, was in pristine form as he produced just four unforced errors to swat aside Galan in 59 minutes earlier in the day. He will next play Canadian Gabriel Diallo. 'It's very difficult to play here, I feel like the ball is flying, it's very fast. So when you lose confidence with a couple of shots, it makes it very, very difficult to play,' said Sinner. Poland's third seed Iga Swiatek was back on top form after an early exit in Montreal as she sprinted through the first set and fended off four break points in the second to beat Anastasia Potapova comfortably 6-1, 6-4. She next plays Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, whom she has defeated in all three previous meetings, in the third round of the U.S. Open tune-up tournament. Australian Open winner Madison Keys had a tougher opening to her Cincinnati campaign, saving two match points to survive against German Eva Lys with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) win to punch her ticket to the third round, where she will play Japan's Aoi Ito. 'I just kept trying to listen to everyone here cheering me. It helped me get back into the match and across the finish line,' said American Keys, who triumphed in 2019 and clinched Saturday's affair with an unreturnable forehand. Earlier on Saturday, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech upset Norwegian 11th seed Casper Ruud 6-7(5) 6-4 6-2, while eighth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti lost to France's Benjamin Bonzi 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4). Fourth seed Taylor Fritz sent over a dozen aces to close out the day's programme on Centre Court with a routine 6-4, 6-4 win over American compatriot Emilio Nava and book a meeting with Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
