A fired-up Ben Shelton took top billing from the absent Novak Djokovic and reached his third Australian Open quarterfinal with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Casper Ruud yesterday.
Djokovic was a shoo-in for the late-night slot at Rod Laver Arena but ended up a walkover into the quarterfinals when his opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew injured from their fourth round match.
Enter American Shelton, who shrugged off a slow start to deliver a crowd-pleasing win over 12th-seeded Norwegian Ruud.
Fans missing 10-times Australian Open champion Djokovic punctured the air with cries of “Go Novak!” during the match – but Shelton took it with good humour.
“For me, atmosphere is everything. So I want to thank you guys for staying out here,” the eighth seed said on court.
“I know you guys were probably looking forward to Novak tonight, I heard it from the stands.
“But I hope we didn’t disappoint you with this match.”
Shelton, who banged down 14 aces and fired a 228 km/hr serve as he closed out the match, will meet double defending champion Jannik Sinner for a place in the semifinals.
Shelton may need to channel Djokovic circa 2023 to take down Sinner, having lost eight consecutive matches to the Italian, including in last year’s semifinals at Melbourne Park.
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