The first part of the 2023 Japan Open Final is set with Ben Shelton through to his maiden championship match on his first year on the ATP Tour.
It was a miraculous comeback from the American who was one set and two breaks down, but came back in style to seal a 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win over Marcos Giron and is now one win away from the top 15.
A superb feat for Shelton who at one point couldn't back up his Grand Slam form of winning back-to-back matches. But he has done this time in Tokyo.
At one point, he was 5-2 down against Giron and on the verge of defeat, before he came back to win four games in a row to turn the tide. He then took the second set narrowly on his second set point in the tiebreak.
The final set didn't see Giron falter much or fall off a cliff. After he spurned three break points, Shelton didn't cave on his chance and his first on the Giron serve to go 4-3 up and sealed the match from there on his first match point ironically having faced break point opportunities from Giron previously.
He now faces Shintaro Mochizuki who has been the incredible surprise package this week in Tokyo on home soil breaking new ground or it will be Aslan Karatsev. Either way, Shelton will be favourite to seal a maiden title and such has been his superb rise, it would be well deserved.
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