WASHINGTON : Second seed Ben Shelton battled back from a set down to defeat France’s Ugo Humbert 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 on Thursday and book his place in the quarter-finals of the Mubadala DC Open in Washington.
The American recovered after dropping a tight opening-set tiebreak, winning 70.4% of his service points despite landing just 62.2% of his first serves. Shelton was broken only once and advanced to his eighth ATP Tour quarter-final of the season, the third-highest total on tour.
Shelton will next face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who defeated France’s Terence Atmane 6-3 7-6(6) to reach the last eight.
Top seed Alex de Minaur ended the impressive run of 17-year-old Australian qualifier Cruz Hewitt with a commanding 6-2 6-3 victory.
Hewitt, the son of former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, had claimed his maiden ATP Tour-level win earlier in the week, but de Minaur proved too strong in the all-Australian contest.
American Brandon Nakashima also progressed, edging past seventh-seeded Czech Jakub Mensik 7-6(5) 3-6 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with de Minaur.
In Los Cabos, France’s Arthur Gea reached his first ATP Tour semi-final by upsetting third seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 6-7(11) 6-4 6-0.
Ranked 127th in the world, Gea rebounded after losing a marathon opening-set tiebreak in which he failed to convert four set points. He dominated the final two sets, winning 77.8% of his service points, including 22 of 24 first-serve points.
Gea will face Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, who defeated American Jenson Brooksby 6-1 7-5 to reach his maiden ATP Tour semi-final.
In the other semi-final, Canada’s eighth seed Denis Shapovalov beat Czech Dalibor Svrcina 6-4 6-2 and will take on Britain’s fifth seed Cameron Norrie, who needed just 50 minutes to rout Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-1 6-0.
