Australian Open 2023: Tommy Paul beats Ben Shelton in All-American quarterfinals

American Tommy Paul reached his first career Slam semi-final at the Australian Open with a 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over American Ben Shelton in Melbourne on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Paul became the first American since Andy Roddick in 2009 to reach the men’s singles semifinals at the Australian Open.

• Paul has 43 winners with 26 unforced errors (plus-17), while Shelton has 42 winners and 50 unforced errors (minus-8).

• This is Paul’s longest Slam result. Prior to the Australian Open, Paul’s best Slam result was the fourth round (Wimbledon 2022).

Background

Paul, 25, has had a successful career in junior tennis. He defeated American Taylor Fritz to win the 2015 French Open Junior and also reached the final of the 2015 US Junior Open.

Paul has one ATP Tour title as a professional, winning the 2021 Stockholm Open. He entered the Australian Open ranked number 35 in the world.

Shelton, 20, entered this year’s Australian Open as the reigning NCAA men’s singles champion with the Florida Gators. Shelton’s trip to Australia is the first time he has left the United States. He will enter the top 50 of the ATP Tour world rankings on Monday.

With Paul, Shelton and Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals, it is the highest number of Americans in the final eight at the Australian Open since 2000.

How Paul won

Pavel won thanks to his serve. He was not broken in the first set and did not lose a service point in the tiebreak. Paul served seven aces, converted 66 percent of his first serves and won 88 percent of his first serve points.

Although Shelton hit 24 aces on his serve, Paul bounced back, winning 33 percent of his points. Paul broke Shelton’s serve three times.

The main moment of the match

He is everywhere 👀 @TommyPaul1 @AustralianOpen | #AusOpenpic.twitter.com/Kj7SLB1Keu

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 25, 2023

Mandatory literature

• Australian Open 2023: Sebastian Corda withdraws from Karen Khachanov in quarterfinals due to injury

(Photo by Tommy Paul: Graham Denholm/Getty Images)