Semifinals: Ben Shelton on a cloud

Patience pays off

High-stakes matches are nothing new to Ben Shelton (No.3), and he has learned how to handle the pressure. The American naturally stepped onto Centre Court as the favourite against the home crowd’s darling on Saturday, and he was the first to earn a break-point opportunity. But at 2-1, 30-40, the crowd rallied behind the Frenchman, who escaped the danger with a powerful first serve.

Struggling to make any inroads on his opponent’s serve, with Shelton having dropped just seven points on serve by 5-5, Luca Van Assche weathered the storm and gradually planted seeds of doubt in his opponent’s mind as the errors began to mount. At 5-5, on his third break point, the 22-year-old held firm in the rally and changed pace at exactly the right moment to expose the American’s weaknesses, with Shelton eventually finding the net on return.

Fittingly, it was another forehand error from the left-hander, his 14th unforced error of the opening set, that handed Van Assche the break and the chance to serve for the set.

With the crowd increasingly excited at the prospect of seeing a French player reach the final for the second time in three editions, Van Assche fed off the electric atmosphere in his first-ever Masters 1000 semifinal. Fully focused, he earned two set points behind a strong first serve before another error from Shelton allowed him to take the opening set 7-5 in 55 minutes.

Shelton strikes back

It took Ben Shelton (No.3) less than 40 minutes to level the match at one set apiece. Drawing on the experience that recently took him to a Grand Slam final, Shelton made no mistake on another break-point opportunity at 3-2, only the second of the match. A forehand winner put him firmly back on track and ahead on the scoreboard, as he began to take greater control of the rallies after a set and a half. On the back foot, Luca Van Assche won just three points on his opponent’s serve and eventually surrendered the set 6-3.

Once again, experience made the difference in the deciding set. Van Assche had moved a break ahead at 3-1, converting with a superb return winner as the American prepared to move forward to the net, but the Frenchman then showed signs of nerves. With the biggest win of his career within reach, he faltered and surrendered his serve with a double fault, allowing Shelton to break straight back.

From there, Van Assche was unable to rediscover the momentum he had built from the start of the match. The American won five of the final six games to seal victory (5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 16 minutes).

“Luca played really well. He was very consistent and that pushed me to force things a little, which is why I made too many errors in the first set,” Shelton told the ATP. “After that, my goal was to be much more precise and use the speed of the court to take control. I found a good rhythm, started returning better and then things began to go my way.”

With this victory, “Big Ben” has reached his sixth final of the season and becomes the first American to reach the Rolex Paris Masters final since Jack Sock in 2017. Sock went on to lift the Fanti Tree trophy that year.