Tommy Paul outlasts fellow American Ben Shelton to reach Australian Open semi-final
MELBOURNE, Australia — Tommy Paul reached his first Grand Slam semi-final and ended Ben Shelton’s surprising run by winning their All-American match at the Australian Open 7-6(6), 6- 3, 5-7, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Paul, a 25-year-old from New Jersey, is the first man from his country to reach the final four at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009. Roddick was also the last man from the United States to win a singles in the Grand Slam. championship, at the US Open 20 years ago.
Paul, 35th, was a star as a junior, winning the 2015 French Open title and reaching the final at Flushing Meadows that year. As a professional he holds a tour-level title, Stockholm in 2021 and until this week had reached the fourth round of only one Grand Slam tournament – at Wimbledon a year ago.
His semi-final opponent will be 21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or No. 5 Andrey Rublev. Djokovic came into their match Wednesday night with a 43-10 career record in major quarter-finals; Rublev’s mark at this point was 0-6.
The other men’s semi-final on Friday will pit No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas against No. 18 Karen Khachanov.