Ben Shelton remains on the course for the second consecutive Masters 1000 crown. The champion from Toronto booked his place in the Cincinnati quarter-final with a rock-solid 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jiri Lehecka.
The 5th seed sealed the deal in an hour and 21 minutes in front of the home crowd, earning another notable victory and arranging the quarter-final duel with world no. 3 Alexander Zverev.
Ben took 14 points more and outplayed his rival on serve and return. The young American lost 13 points in ten service games, losing serve once in the second set. He responded with 41% of the return points and three breaks from eight opportunities.
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Shelton landed 20 winners and 17 unforced errors. He had the upper hand in service winners and from the baseline, earning his victory in the shortest exchanges up to four strokes.
They served well in the opening four games of the duel before Jiri denied two break chances at 2-2. A left-hander landed a powerful serve in the eighth game for 4-4 and made a push on the return in the next one.
The Czech squandered a 30-0 lead and netted a routine forehand to drop serve and fall 5-4 behind. Shelton served for the opener in game ten and generated three set points with a volley winner at the net.
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He converted the first with a service winner, wrapping up the first part of the duel 6-4 in 42 minutes. Jiri denied two break points at the beginning of the second set and stepped in on the return in the next one.
The Czech provided a break at 15 when the American sprayed a forehand error, forging a 2-0 advantage. Ben kept his composure and pulled the break back a couple of minutes later following the rival's mistake.
They served well in the next five games and locked the result at 4-4. Lehecka lost the ground in game nine and faced three break points after a costly double fault. He netted a routine backhand on the second, dropping serve and propelling his rival closer to the finish line.
Shelton served for the win at 5-4 and sealed the deal with a service winner, rattling off 12 of the final 15 points and arranging the quarter-final duel against Alexander Zverev.
