LONDON (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Ben Shelton needed all of about a minute and exactly four points — three of which were aces — to wrap up a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Rinky Hijikata on Friday in a second-round Wimbledon match suspended the night before because of darkness at 5-4 in the third set.
“Very different playing over two days and coming out for whatever that was — 55 seconds? — today,” the 10th-seeded Shelton said. “I was hoping to maybe hit a few groundstrokes today. I might have to go to the practice courts.”
The American, who reached the final four at the 2023 U.S. Open and this year's Australian Open, was about to try to serve out the match on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. when action was halted at No. 2 Court, which does not have a roof or artificial lights.
They came back out to the same stadium a little less than 16 hours later and, after a warmup period that was quite a bit longer the resumption of actual play, Shelton began with a 141 mph ace. The 22-year-old left-hander then hit a second serve that resulted in a framed return by Hijikata, followed with an ace at 140 mph and one more at 118 mph to end things quickly.
“You come out here, serving for the match, the nerves are there a little bit. To hit three aces and take the pressure off of myself, I couldn't have been happier with what I came out here and did," said Shelton, who will face 105th-ranked Marton Fucsovics of Hungary for a chance to reach the fourth round at the All England Club for the second consecutive year.
Shelton told the crowd: "I'm sorry that you guys didn't really get to see much tennis.”
Right before things were halted Thursday, Shelton held three match points while leading 5-3 and at love-40 on Hijikata's serve. But but the 87th-ranked Hijikata grabbed the next five points to extend the contest.
Shelton faced only three break points against Hijikata, saving all of them.
“A great match,” he said. “A clean match.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
