Shelton secures top 10 breakthrough in Stuttgart

Ben Shelton reached the semi-finals on the ATP Stuttgart grass on Friday, assuring himself of a first-time move into the ranking top 10.

The son of a former ATP pro assured his rise through a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Czech Jiri Lehecka. The American will now face a huge test in the final four as he faces home crowd hero Alexander Zverev.

The German advanced past Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-4 with 31 winners in the 92-minute victory which took him to 4-0 over the American.

“That is really cool,” Shelton said of his new ranking.  “(It’s a) big milestone; I guess Stuttgart is the place for Americans to break into the Top 10 (Frances Tiafoe did the same in 2023 with his Stuttgart title),

“I am just thinking about this week, I want to keep going this week and want to be playing on Sunday.”

Shelton will be playing his 10th career semi-final and first on grass 

ATP No.3 Zverev will be bidding to back up the Munich home trophy he earned last April.

Elsewhere, Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the weekend at the Weissenhof club beating German 17-year-old wild card Justin Engel 7-6 (3), 6-3, sending down 18 aces to move into his sixth career semi on the lawns.

Engel, whose ranking will move up 47 places to 234, is the youngest grass-court Tour quarter-finalist since Boris Becker at Wimbledon in 1985.

Auger-Aliassime now tangles with second seed Taylor Fritz after the American beat Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-4. Fritz will aim for a fourth title on grass after winning Eastbourne inthe south of England in 2019, 2022 and 2024.

“I think regardless of the surface, when Felix and I have played, it has been on pretty fast hard courts, so it has always come down to a lot of serving and one or two breaks,” Fritz said. “I think it will be a similar situation.”