Wimbledon 2025: Ben Shelton advances to first Wimbledon quarterfinal, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in 4 sets

Yahoo

a day ago

No. 10 seed Ben Shelton became the second American men's player to advance to the 2025 Wimbledon quarterfinals, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in four sets 3-6, 6-1, 7-6, 7-5. Shelton has made it to the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time in his career.
Monday's match was the third time Shelton has defeated Sonego in a Grand Slam tournament, previously besting him at the Australian Open and French Open.
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Sonego frustrated Shelton early by handling his serve and preventing him from getting aces. More importantly, the Italian kept his opponent guessing throughout the first set, mixing together a variety of shots to keep Shelton off rhythm. Sonego seemed to use everything in his arsenal — drop shots at the net, slices down the line and cross-court lobs — to keep Shelton moving.
Additionally, Sonego controlled play with his serve which seemingly forced Shelton to take extra time to get set before receiving. At one point, the umpire warned him about that tactic. Yet Shelton argued that Sonego was taking 25 seconds or more to serve — something that was an issue in Sunday's fourth-round match between Cameron Norrie and Nicolás Jarry.
"No matter what he will never start before it's down to 3, 2, 1," Shelton could be heard telling umpire Alison Hughes as the players changed sides, according to the Daily Express.
Getting rattled and appearing to lose his focus resulted in Shelton losing the first set rather decisively, 6-3.
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That changed in the second set, though Sonego still had an answer for Shelton's serve. The set turned when Shelton broke serve and won the fourth game on Sonego's double-fault. Whether intentional or not, Sonego continued to try and throw off Shelton's rhythm with longer serve times and bathroom breaks.
By that point, Shelton channeled whatever frustration he may have felt into his play and quickly won the second set, 6-1.
Both players went back and forth in the third set, neither gaining an advantage on their serve. Sonego fell hard behind the baseline while stretching for a return, resulting in Shelton going up 4-3. But a simliar play occurred on Shelton's end on the next point and Sonego evened it up.
This story will be updated.