Defending champion Ben Shelton kept a clean slate at the ATP Montreal Masters on Sunday, holding off a challenge from Joao Fonseca to power 6-3, 7-6 (3) into the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
World number 10 Shelton<\/a> has not dropped a set in reaching the last eight.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old American left-hander will play for a semi-final berth against 13th-seeded Czech Jakub Mensik<\/a>, who beat Botic Van De Zandschulp<\/a> 6-4, 7-5<\/a>, claiming victory on a winning lob.<\/p>\n Van De Zandschulp served for the second set but was broken, with Mensik seizing the momentum as he won 12 of the final 14 points.<\/p>\n Brazilian teenager Fonseca<\/a>, billed as one of the faces for the future of the sport, might have compromised his own chances when he landed badly on his ankle after missing a smash while leading 3-1, 40-30 in the second set.<\/p>\n The youngster was plagued by 32 unforced errors as his opponent mastered an annoying evening wind to earn the victory.<\/p>\n “It was tough today, not easy conditions,” Shelton said. “With the wind I struggled to find footing on a lot of balls.<\/p>\n “It all came down to grit. The tennis was not clean. Beating a high-quality player like that is huge for me.”<\/p>\n Shelton secured his ninth straight victory<\/a> in Canada on the second of four match points as Fonseca hit the net with a return after leading in both sets.<\/p>\n Daniel Merida<\/a> smothered Tallon Griekspoor<\/a> 6-3, 6-1<\/a> as the Spaniard continued his rapid adjustment to hardcourt tennis in Canada.<\/p>\n The world number 63 joins compatriot Rafael Jodar<\/a> in the Canada quarter-finals and will break through to a career-best spot inside the top 50 as a result of his fourth-round victory.<\/p>\n Prior to making his Montreal debut, clay-courter Merida had never won a tour-level match on hardcourt.<\/p>\n He will try to extend his streak of cement success to five in a row when he plays a first Masters quarter-final against US 12th seed Learner Tien<\/a>, who wore down Argentine Thiago Tirante<\/a> 6-4, 6-4<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tien saved the first eight break points he faced in the second set in a battle of big hitters and secured victory in his fifth match point, with his opponent handing over the final game with four unforced errors.<\/p>\n “Today was humid, conditions are always tough,” Tien said. “I’m happy with how the match worked out.<\/p>\n “This was one of those days where I was making good contact with the ball. I was seeing the ball well and returning well.”<\/p>\n The 20-year-old added: “All the younger guys are playing with a lot of confidence. We’re playing free against the older guys.<\/p>\n “It’s great for the sport. The younger guys are also pushing each other.”<\/p>\n Against Griekspoor, Merida was deadly with his backhand, leaving the Dutchman flat-footed in the 69-minute triumph.<\/p>\n Spain’s title-winner last month on clay in Umag has now claimed 16 victories this breakthrough season.<\/p>\n “This is a dream come true. I’m feeling really great,” Merida said. “I’m happy with the level during all the week.<\/p>\n “I was playing great for the last year and the beginning of this year so I just starting to believe more in myself.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending champion Ben Shelton kept a clean slate at the ATP Montreal Masters on Sunday, holding off a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-733688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}