American Ben Shelton believes he’s close to breaking through at Grand Slam level despite going down in straight sets to world No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals on Friday night.
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The 22-year-old had two set points in the first set on his own serve but rued his inability to close it out, after which Sinner pulled away for a comfortable 7-6(2) 6-2 6-2 victory and a place in the final for the second year in a row.
“I know I'm close,” 21st seed Shelton said. “I know my level's close. I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe in myself. I just think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me.
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“I think that those guys ... Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, Novak [Djokovic], the guys who have been dominating in the slams over the last two years … on their bad days they're still winning in three sets, winning in four sets. They figure it out.
“I'm getting closer to being able to do that. Not having a good serving day or serving week and having a great tournament is a huge positive for me. It's like being able to recognise the flaws in what I did, in my game, against some of these guys, being able to go back to the drawing board. It gives me a lot of confidence.”
Shelton was disappointed with the loss, but more so because his serve, usually one of the best on tour, didn’t fire as well as usual.
“I've made my living on tour so far serving out sets and being able to serve out sets,” he said.
“Having two set points on my serve, serving at 6-5, I feel like uncharacteristic for me not to come through and win that.
“Obviously you're playing the No. 1 player in the world, the chances, the windows are always small. Sometimes you miss your window, and the guy steps up his level, starts making a lot more first serves, playing better. The break chances don't come as often.
“I thought I did some things well out there today. I'll have to look at the statistics after the match. Probably one of my worst serving days in this tournament so far, which is disappointing, now being six matches into the tournament.”
In fact, Shelton landed just 59 per cent of his first serves while Sinner made 76 per cent of returns, adding pressure on his serve throughout.
“My spot-serving I thought just wasn't there tonight,” Shelton said.
“Honestly, that's been one thing for me this whole tournament, I thought that I haven't served too great. I've been making up with my plus-ones, doing it with my forehand. I've honestly been breaking serve a lot. That was just one thing that outside of the [Pablo] Carreno Busta match that never clicked for me.
“It's just something to keep going back and improving on. I thought that from the ground I played well. I thought I volleyed pretty well. I thought I returned well. I put myself in positions. I broke twice in the first, and I put myself in positions to break early in the second and the third, the second serve returns on break points or deep in a rally on a break point.
“Sometimes those chances are gone. They don't come again. But that's the one thing for me that has to be better.”
Shelton said his run to the semis has given him confidence he can enjoy a big year as he pushes closer to the world's top 10.
"It's a positive two weeks, no doubt, and something that I can build on," he said.
"I'm excited for the rest of the year, really excited. There's so many opportunities to compete. We got three more slams. I want to do some more damage than I've done on clay this year. Just keep seeing myself get better and better.
"I think this is a great sport to see where your ceiling is, how good of a player that you can be and where that peak is. I'm just working, trying to find where that is."