By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Ben Shelton said uncharacteristic errors at crucial moments had proved costly during his Australian Open semi-final loss against defending champion Jannik Sinner on Friday, after the American squandered the chance to go a set up early in the match.
The 21st seed unleashed his big hitting and was serving at 6-5 in the opening set but was broken by Sinner, who raced away in the tiebreak that followed to lay the platform for a 7-6(2) 6-2 6-2 victory and a final meeting with Alexander Zverev.
Shelton, who failed to capitalise when Sinner was dealing with cramp in the third set, said playing the Italian top seed was always a tough ask but he wanted more from his big weapon.
“I’ve made my living on tour so far serving out sets and being able to serve out sets,” Shelton told reporters, adding it was uncharacteristic of him not to put away at least one of his two set points.
“You’re playing the number one player in the world, the windows are always small. Sometimes you miss your window and the guy steps up his level, starts making a lot more first serves, plays better. The break chances don’t come as often.
“I thought I did some things well out there. I’ll have to look at the statistics after the match. Probably one of my worst serving days in this tournament so far, which is disappointing, now being six matches into the tournament.”
Despite the disappointment of his second major semi-final defeat, Shelton said he was getting closer to the level of the top players on the tour.
“I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe in myself,” Shelton added.
“I think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me.
“I think those guys … Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, the guys who have been dominating in the slams … on their bad days they’re still winning in three sets, winning in four sets. They figure it out.
“I’m getting closer to being able to do that. Not having a good serving day or serving week and having a great tournament is a huge positive for me.”
Shelton also struggled with a physical issue midway and said that on a better day, he could have pushed Sinner a lot harder.
“I’m disappointed because I wanted to see where this match ended up,” Shelton said.
“I win that first set, and get into the depths of it, deep in the fourth or the fifth, which should have been possible with where I was at in the first set, serving with set points.
“Next time I’m out there with set points, I’m going to hit the ace.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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