The American men are down to just one player remaining on the men’s side at Wimbledon in 2025, as No. 10 seed Ben Shelton fell at the hands of the World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in Wednesday’s quarterfinal. Shelton and Sinner played three tight sets, but the Italian was the superior player in the clutch moments and came out on top with a straight-set victory, 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4.
This was the seventh edition of the rivalry between these two young stars, but it is Sinner who has dominated of late. Shelton won their first meeting back in Shanghai in the fall of 2023, but Sinner has won the last six meetings in straight sets, a streak of 15 consecutive sets won in the matchup.
After Wednesday’s quarterfinal, Shelton talked about what makes Sinner so difficult to beat.
“With Sinner who I’ve played the most, his ball speed is really high. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Shelton said. “You don’t see anything like it when you’re going through the draw. When you play him it’s almost like things are in 2x speed. I’m usually pretty good at adjusting to that speed. It’s difficult when a guy is hitting the ball that big that consistently off both wings and serving the way he is.”
Shelton has become somewhat of an overachiever in the Grand Slams, reaching a semifinal at the Australian Open in January before this quarterfinal run at Wimbledon. He rarely loses to anyone outside the best of the best in best-of-five tennis. Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 2 player in the world, are responsible for four of Shelton’s last five exits at the majors.
The American had his chances to make this a match on Wednesday, but Sinner lived up to his reputation as the king in the clutch moments. After Shelton served his way to a first set tiebreak and took a 2-0 lead, Sinner won the next seven points to take the first set and grab control of the match.
Shelton’s serve got him deep into each of the next two sets too, but Sinner tightened the screw as the scoreboard pressure closed in. Shelton failed to hold serve at 4-5 in both the second and third sets, as Sinner found punishing returns off of the elite Shelton serve and dominated with his consistency, depth and precision in the baseline rallies.
However, it’s impossible to take this result as anything but a positive for Shelton. He didn’t have much of a grass-court resume yet in his young career, but now he has a Grand Slam quarterfinal on the surface.
As for Sinner, his pursuit of a fourth Grand Slam title and a first at Wimbledon continues. He will take on the legendary 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, while Alcaraz will play against No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz on the other half of the draw.