Ben Shelton takes 70 seconds to finish Wimbledon match suspended due to darkness
Friday afternoon, Shelton took one minute, 10 seconds, three aces and one unreturned serve to complete a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win.
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The 22-year-old American was four points from closing out his match against Rinky Hijikata on No. 2 Court, set to serve at 6-2, 7-5, *5-4, when a tournament official appeared on the court and told him the match was being halted for the night.
Shelton just about lost it, especially given he and Hijikata discussed the match's being suspended at the start of the third set, and again three games later. Officials told them to play on, and then, at 9:30 p.m., told them to stop.
A spokesperson for the tournament said that 'due to poor light it was not possible to continue and not an option to move to another court.'
At the 2024 tournament, Leylah Fernandez of Canada and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark were locked at 3-3 in the third set on Court 12 when their match was halted for light. They resumed, an hour later, under the roof and lights of No. 1 Court, and Wozniacki won the match. On Thursday night in London, the All England Club's two courts with roofs and lights, Centre Court and No. 1, sat empty, though the lengthy shut down process, which involves covering the courts, had begun much earlier.
The decision to stop Shelton's match came three nights after Taylor Fritz was told to halt his match at 10:20 p.m., rather than immediately heading into a decisive fifth set. He protested, arguing that the pace of the match suggested they could finish before Wimbledon's 11 p.m. curfew, but officials — and his opponent, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard — disagreed.
Shelton's match, and another suspended encounter between Marton Fucsovics and Gaël Monfils, will finish on the same courts Friday, after the completion of the first matches on the schedule.
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