All the runners at the Swiss Indoor competing for a place in the ATP Finals, have now tumbled out of the event in Basel and hope that they can recover lost points in Paris next week.
I knew this was a big one for me, I struggled a lot this year in quarter finals, and I’ve lost a lot of them against Top 10 players, Ben Shelton
Surprisingly the last two who had a chance of picking up maximum points at the 500-level event were eliminated at the quarter final stage, namely the top seeded Andrei Rublev and the third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Both were playing to face each other in the last four.
Rublev was beaten by the sixth seed, Ben Shelton 7-5 6-7(3) 6-4 while Tsitsipas fell to Arthur Fils 7-6(5) 6-3
Shelton was imperious on serve throughout the encounter, slamming down 13 aces and saving all six break points he faced. The 22-year-old also converted each of the two break points he raised.
“I knew this was a big one for me, I struggled a lot this year in quarter finals, and I’ve lost a lot of them against Top 10 players,” said Shelton. “It’s been a tough hump to overcome, but to get to the second to last week of the year and finally do it is huge for me. Especially with the way I was able to overcome everything Rublev threw at me today.”
Fils was also dominant in his quarter final match.
“I think I served pretty well,” said Fils, who did not face a break point. “I was very focused. I missed a crazy set point, but I am very happy with how I dealt with the tiebreak and I think I played pretty good in the second set as well.
“I found a way to refocus [after missing the first two set points], and I think I did that pretty well, so I am happy.”
Holger Rune celebrates reaching the last four
(Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
As a result of those two crashing out of contention, Holger Rune the fourth seed assumes the mantle of favourite for this title.
The Dane had a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Lucky Loser David Goffin and will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard after the 6’ 8” 21-year-old Frenchman battled past Denis Shapovalov 6-7(7) 6-3 7-6(3).
The Frenchman has hit 70 aces in three matches this week, and a total of 445 aces in 24 matches for the 2024 season, averaging 18.5 aces per match.
