TORONTO — Fourth-seeded Ben Shelton of the United States rallied in the third set to beat 13th-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1) on Sunday night in the National Bank Open.
Shelton overcame a 4-2 deficit in the final set to advance to the quarterfinals Tuesday in the hard-court event that ends Thursday.
After the match, television cameras showed Shelton and Cobolli having words in a heated exchange at the net.
“Really difficult match. I was down and out, being a break down in the third, the way that he was playing,” Shelton said. “I gave myself a second chance and I did a good job with it, kind of running from there. A really difficult opponent for me, someone who’s gotten me in three sets after I’ve won the first set twice.”
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Shelton will face ninth-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Frances Tiafoe of the United States 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
The 22-year-old Shelton has two ATP Tour victories, in Tokyo on hard courts in 2023 and Houston on clay last year. The victory Sunday was his 100th in 169 tour matches.
“I thought I did a really good job rallying and finding a way to put returns in the court late in the match,” Shelton said. “I was struggling with my two biggest weapons, the serve and the first-ball forehand. Coming through in the end I think speaks a lot about my mental toughness and my ability to be scrappy in those moments, more so than my actual play.”
The 23-year-old Cobolli won clay events in Hamburg and Bucharest this year for his lone tour titles.
Earlier, sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia led Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 3-0 when Davidovich Fokina retired because of exhaustion.
Rublev will face second-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who defeated Czechia’s Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) in the late match.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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