The Shanghai Masters ATP tennis tournament has not been played since 2019 before COVID-19.
As a result, the 2023 tournament features new stars who have never played in this tournament.
Among those are Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda who find themselves in an all-American quarterfinal match being played on Thursday morning at 6:30 AM EDT.
Shelton who turned 21 this week while in Shanghai, and Korda, 23, have never played each other on the ATP Tour.
Their backgrounds are similar, but how they emerged on the tour could not be more different.
Both are sons of professional tennis fathers who played in the 1990s, Bryan Shelton and Petr Korda.
Don’t think Petr Korda & Bryan Shelton ever played each other on the ATP Tour, at least not in singles
But their sons will: Sebastian Korda vs Ben Shelton for a spot in the Shanghai semifinals.
Good breakfast viewing in their home state of Florida: 630 am ET on Thursday pic.twitter.com/jNhUR0W269
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) October 11, 2023
Ben took the NCAA route to continue his tennis career at the University of Florida before turning pro last year.
Sebastian turned professional when he was 18 years old and has been working his way up through the ATP ranks.
He experienced his greatest career win to date in Shanghai by defeating the 2019 champion Daniil Medvedev.
Giant slayer ⚔️
Sebastian Korda records his first Top 5 win of his career, knocking out defending champion Daniil Medvedev.#RolexShanghaiMasters | @SH_RolexMasters pic.twitter.com/V26exExz2O
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 8, 2023
Ben had his biggest win to date also in Shanghai over Jannik Sinner.
BIG BEN’S BIGGEST WIN 👏@BenShelton records his biggest EVER win 2-6 6-3 7-6 over Jannik Sinner!#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/AUSY6Ekjzr
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 10, 2023
In addition to Medvedev and Sinner, top ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas were knocked out of the tournament.
Andrey Rublev, ranked fifth, is the only Top 5 player left in the draw so there is a definite opportunity for the winner of this match to compete for his first ATP 1000 title later in the week.
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