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“Really difficult match. I was down and out,
being a break down in the third, the way that he was playing,”
Shelton said. “I gave myself a second chance and I did a good
job with it, kind of running from there. A really difficult
opponent for me, someone who’s gotten me in three sets after
I’ve won the first set twice.”
He will face ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia, a 6-2,
4-6, 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Frances Tiafoe of the United
States 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
The 22-year-old Shelton has two ATP Tour victories, in Tokyo on
hard courts in 2023 and Houston on clay last year. The victory
Sunday was his 100th in 169 tour matches.
“I thought I did a really good job rallying and finding a way to
put returns in the court late in the match," Shelton said. "I
was struggling with my two biggest weapons, the serve and the
first-ball forehand. Coming through in the end I think speaks a
lot about my mental toughness and my ability to be scrappy in
those moments, more so than my actual play.”
The 23-year-old Cobolli won clay events in Hamburg and Bucharest
this year for his lone tour titles.
Earlier, sixth-seeded Audrey Rublev of Russia led Alejandro
Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 3-0 when Davidovich
Fokina retired because of exhaustion.
Rublev will face the winner of the late match between
second-seeded Taylor Fritz of the United States and Jiri Lehecka
of Czechia.
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