Tommy Paul reached his first Grand Slam semifinal and ended the surprising run of Ben Shelton by winning their all-American matchup at the Australian Open 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Wednesday. (More Tennis news)
Paul, a 25-year-old from New Jersey, is the first man from his country to make it to the final four at Melbourne Park s🍰ince Andy Roddick in 2009. Roddick was also the last man from the U.S. to win a Grand Slam singles championship, at ꦜthe U.S. Open 20 years ago.
The 35th-ranked Paul was a star as a junior, taking the 2015 title at the French Open and getting 🔯to the final at Flushing M𒉰eadows that year. As a pro, he owns one tour-level title, at Stockholm in 2021 and, until this week, had made it as far as the fourth round at just one Grand Slam tournament — at Wimbledon a year ago.
His semifinal opponent wil🍎l be 21-time Grand Slam champion Nova༒k Djokovic or No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev. Djokovic entered their match on Wednesday night with a 43-10 career record in major quarterfinals; Rublev’s mark at that stage was 0-6.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is No. 3 Stefanos ܫTsitsipas against N𒉰o. 18 Karen Khachanov.
