'Clutch' serving sends Shelton to Washington QFs; Tiafoe, Rublev advance

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ben-shelton/s0s1/overview'Ben Shelton/a held his nerve in two tight tie-breaks Thursday to seal his place in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/washington/418/overview'Mubadala Citi DC Open/a quarter-finals. The second-seeded American ousted countryman a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/brandon-nakashima/n0ae/overview'Brandon Nakashima/a 7-6(5), 7-6(4)./p

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The 21-year-old hugged the baseline and produced heavy-hitting, first-strike tennis in humid conditions. Despite letting slip three set points on serve at 5-4 in the first set, Shelton, who on Wednesday won a late night three-setter against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/radu-albot/a829/overview'Radu Albot/a, quickly rebounded to win the opener in a tie-break. The lefty won 81 per cent of his first-serve points and hammered 14 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

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ldquo;I served amazing today, that was one of the keys for me,rdquo; said Shelton, who struck a pair of aces from 5/4 in the second-set tie-break to seal victory. ldquo;If you donrsquo;t have 100 per cent in the tank, itrsquo;s really hard to break serve against a guy like him so I knew that I was going to have to hold serve./p

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ldquo;I did a great job holding serve, got broke once. But my best tennis came out in the tie-break. I thought it was just a clutch performance. I managed my energy well and Irsquo;m happy to be through. A really tough opponent.rdquo;/p

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Shelton will next face wild card a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/denis-shapovalov/su55/overview'Denis Shapovalov/a in a rematch of last monthrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a third round five-setter, which the American won. The Canadian on Thursday rallied past Serbian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/miomir-kecmanovic/ki95/overview'Miomir Kecmanovic/a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2./p

pHometown hero a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a overcame countryman a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/aleksandar-kovacevic/k0az/overview'Aleksandar Kovacevic/a 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 after two hours, 29 minutes. The 26-year-old struck 16 aces to reach the Washington quarter-finals for the third consecutive year. The fifth seed will next play a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/a after the top seed beat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-rinderknech/rc91/overview'Arthur Rinderknech/a./pp

ldquo;For me, getting my confidence back, getting two tough wins in a row is great,rdquo; Tiafoe said. ldquo;I had 14 aces in the first round and 16 today, so if I can be in a position to win a lot of first-serve points and second-serve points won, Irsquo;m in a good spot.rdquo;/pp

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pRublev is chasing his third title of the season and he reached the quarter-finals when he moved past Frenchman Rinderknech 7-6(4), 6-4./p

pThe 26-year-old fired 32 winners, including 19 aces, to advance after one hour and 29 minutes. Rublev is a two-time semi-finalist in Washington, reaching the last four in 2018 and 2022./p

pAmericans a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sebastian-korda/k0ah/overview'Sebastian Korda/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-michelsen/m0qi/overview'Alex Michelsen/a also advanced. The fourth seed Korda reached the last eight after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thanasi-kokkinakis/kd46/overview'Thanasi Kokkinakis/a retired with the American leading 6-7(1), 7-5, 3-2. Kokkinakis had two match points on serve at 5-4 in the second set. #NextGenATP Michelsen downed South Korean a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/seongchan-hong/hc21/overview'Seongchan Hong/a 6-3, 6-3./div

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Michelsen next meets Italian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a, who earned a memorable win, saving five match points to defeat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-davidovich-fokina/dh50/overview'Alejandro Davidovich Fokina/a 1-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(7) in a three-hour, 14-minute marathon. Cobolli, 22, trailed 2/6 in the tie-break and again fought off a match point at 6/7. The 10th seed is No. 47 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, one spot ahead of his career-high./p

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Atlanta finalist and seventh seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jordan-thompson/tc61/overview'Jordan Thompson/a defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/giovanni-mpetshi-perricard/m0gz/overview'Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard/a 7-5, 6-4./p

pstrongDid You Know?/strongbr /

An American man has not won the Washington title since a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-roddick/r485/overview'Andy Roddick/a in 2007./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p