MELBOURNE: Ben Shelton’s Australian Open quarterfinal foe, Lorenzo Sonego, produced the shot of the tournament — diving to his left for a volley with so much spin that the ball bounced on one side of the net, then floated back over to the other — but it was the American who ended up with the victory Wednesday.
The left-handed Shelton did some entertaining of his own, including earning cheers by doing a couple of push-ups after tumbling in the concluding tiebreaker, and he reached his second Grand Slam semifinal at age 22 by beating the unseeded Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4).
“I’m relieved,” said Shelton, who will meet No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy on Friday for a spot in the final. “Shout out Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis.”
Sinner, the defending champion at Melbourne Park, completely overwhelmed the last Australian in the men’s bracket, No. 8 Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 at night.
“It’s been too many times playing him and seeing the same thing. So I’m not even surprised anymore when I face him,” said de Minaur, who is now 0-10 against Sinner over their careers. “Matches like these happen.”
Sinner looked and played much better than he did — hand trembling, head dizzy — during a four-set struggle against Holger Rune in the fourth round. After giving himself a bit of a break on Tuesday, sleeping in and only hitting on court for about 30 or 40 minutes, Sinner said his body was much better.
“For sure, was (my) best match of the tournament so far,” said Sinner, who stretched his unbeaten winning streak to 19 matches dating back to last season.
Shelton, who is seeded 21st, closed the first set against Sonego with a 144 mph (232 kph) ace, tied for the fastest serve over the past 1 1/2 weeks, and flexed his left arm after smacking a powerful forehand to close a 22-stroke point and earn a break in the second. His father Bryan, a former tour pro who is Ben’s coach, grinned, too, while patting his own right biceps.
A few points from the end, Shelton sprinted to get his racket on a seemingly unreachable ball, and fell into a courtside advertising board as Sonego hit an easy winner to take the point.
Shelton stayed on the ground for a bit, then earned applause for his effort — and post-fall calisthenics.
When Shelton closed things with a 26th forehand winner — he had zero via backhands — he flexed again and sneered until his expression morphed into a smile.
At his news conference, Shelton offered some unprompted comments critical of some of the people handling on-court post-match interviews.
As good as Shelton is with his serves and forehands, his improving return game is a significant part of what carried him to the final four at the Australian Open for the first time.
He did just enough in that department, accumulating 11 break points and converting three, against Sonego, an Italian ranked 55th. Shelton entered the match coming through on 52 percent of his break chances, the highest rate among the eight men’s quarterfinalists.
Shelton lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 US Open semifinals.
The other semifinal will be Djokovic vs. No. 2 Alexander Zverev. Djokovic continued his pursuit of an 11th Australian Open title, and unprecedented 25th major trophy, by overcoming a leg injury and Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal that began Tuesday night and ended at nearly 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
The women’s semifinals Thursday night are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the tournament winner in each of the last two years, against No. 11 Paula Badosa, and No. 2 Iga Swiatek against No. 19 Madison Keys.
The crowd-pleasing factor was high for Shelton vs. Sonego, who never before had made it this far at a major.
Sonego went 67-for-90 on trips to the net, and his highlight-reel volley came at the outset of the second set. It was so remarkable that Shelton acknowledged the effort by offering a congratulatory handshake.
There was another terrific shot by Sonego in the fourth set, when he raced with his back to the net and spun to hit a hook shot of sorts that resulted in a winner.
It’s Shelton, though, who will get to keep playing in Melbourne this year.
Australian Open: Ben Shelton will face defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals
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Australian Open: Ben Shelton will face defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals
- “I’m relieved,” said Shelton, who will meet No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy on Friday
- Sinner looked and played much better than he did — hand trembling, head dizzy — during a four-set struggle against Holger Rune in the fourth round
Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh
- Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively
RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
