LONDON Four points. Three aces. A minute or so. That was all it needed to defeat Rinky Hijikata 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 on Friday in a second-round match that had been halted the previous evening due to darkness at 5-4 in the third set.
“I wasn’t really going for four aces,” Shelton, who was ranked tenth, stated.
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Yes, Ben.
In any case, the two-time Grand Slam semifinalist was in a lot better mood than he was at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, when he was going to attempt to serve out the victory at No. 2 Court and didn’t agree with the decision to halt. In addition to the absence of artificial lighting, Shelton claimed to have been informed that the automated line-calling system was going to malfunction.
He appeared somewhat heated, and although the player claimed Friday that wasn’t really required, someone stepped in between Shelton and the chair umpire.
I suppose he assumed I was about to throw hands or something when he saw a man my size moving swiftly in the direction of the umpire. “I certainly wasn’t,” Shelton remarked. I soon moved on from it. It most likely appeared more stressful than it actually was.
A little less than 16 hours after the punishment for what ended up being just one match, the American, who advanced to the final four of the 2023 U.S. Open and this year’s Australian Open, and Hijikata, an 87th-ranked Australian, returned to the same arena.
Hijikata described it as somewhat strange.
Shelton started with a 141 mph ace after a warm-up that lasted far longer than the start of the actual game. After a second serve that led to a framed return by Hijikata, the 22-year-old left-hander swiftly ended the match with an ace at 140 mph and another at 118 mph.
Shelton, who will take on Hungary’s 105th-ranked Marton Fucsovics for a chance to win for the second year in a row, stated, “I’m just happy with the way I handled it coming out today and taking care of my business.” Mentally, it’s never ideal to have to wake up every day knowing that it’s match day. I was obviously ready to play two and a half sets. You can’t simply go out there and say, “Yeah, I’ll hold.” But what if you don’t?
Both players felt that they ought to have stopped earlier on Thursday since it was difficult to see for a time and the grass was slippery. With a 5-3 lead with Hijikata’s serve at love-40, Shelton had three match points. To prolong the match, Hijikata scored the next five points.
Not for long, though.
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Since 2002, Howard Fendrich has written about tennis for the AP. His stories can be found here. Additional AP tennis:
