Ben Shelton beats Marcos Giron at Japan Open to succeed in his first ultimate

TOKYO — Ben Shelton rallied from a set all the way down to beat American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Saturday on the Japan Open to succeed in his first tour ultimate.

The 21-year-old Shelton, enjoying in consecutive event semifinals after reaching the identical stage final week in Shanghai, will play Aslan Karatsev in Sunday’s ultimate.

The American transformed 4 of eight break factors in an arm-wrestle of a contest in opposition to Giron.

“It’s a huge achievement for me and my team, especially the way the match panned out today,” Shelton mentioned. “Definitely one of many hardest matches I’ve performed in my life. Marcos was waxing me from the baseline in nearly each rally and I needed to utterly change my sport to also have a probability in opposition to him.

“To be able to get through that match, to not only figure some things out but get a win and be going into my first ATP final, the win couldn’t be sweeter.”

Karatsev ended Japanese wild-card entry Shintaro Mochizuki’s dream run 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his first tour-level ultimate since Sydney in January 2022.

PHOTOS: Ben Shelton beats Marcos Giron at Japan Open to succeed in his first ultimate

The 30-year-old Russian has not dropped a set this week and now has the chance to avenge his defeat to Shelton ultimately month’s U.S. Open, the one time the pair have performed.

Katerina Siniakova and third-seeded Marie Bouzkova will contest an all-Czech ultimate on the Jiangxi Open in China after successful their respective semifinals on Saturday.

Siniakova beat Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-4, ending the Canadian’s eight-match successful streak which included the Hong Kong Open title final week.