American Ben Shelton believes he’s close to breaking through at Grand Slam level despite going down in straight sets to world No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals on Friday night.
MORE: All the scores from Day 13 at AO 2025
The 22-year-old had two set points in the first set on his own serve but rued his inability to close it out, after which Sinner pulled away for a comfortable 7-6(2) 6-2 6-2 victory and a place in the final for the second year in a row.
“I know I’m close,” 21st seed Shelton said. “I know my level’s close. I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe in myself. I just think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me.
MORE: AO 2025 men’s singles draw
“I think that those guys … Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, Novak [Djokovic], the guys who have been dominating in the slams over the last two years … on their bad days they’re still winning in three sets, winning in four sets. They figure it out.
“I’m getting closer to being able to do that. Not having a good serving day or serving week and having a great tournament is a huge positive for me. It’s like being able to recognise the flaws in what I did, in my game, against some of these guys, being able to go back to the drawing board. It gives me a lot of confidence.”
MELBOURNE -- The final match of the women’s draw at the Australian Open sees one player trying to etch her name into history, while the other is seeking her f
There has been plenty of reaction to some of Iga Swiatek’s tactics against Madison Keys at the Australian Open and now Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenp
Aryna Sabalenka was always the favourite to reach the final at Australian Open 2025, but it is a different story for Madison Keys.Perhaps we were wrong not to c
Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka (AP Photo) MELBOURNE: World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka's pursuit of a third consecutive Australian Open title will face a challenge