Tommy Paul is in the midst of a deep run at the 2023 Australian Open as an unseeded player. Late on Tuesday, he beat fellow American Ben Shelton 7-6(6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinals to become just the fourth American man to make a Grand Slam semifinal since 2017. went.
This is the first major semi-final of his career, but he has shown many times that he should not be ignored in this tournament as well. He has already dealt with two seeded opponents in Australia – No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut.
“I feel like the last four years of my career have just been steady steps,” Paul said after the win. according to the associated press, “I mean, that’s what it felt like. I hope 2023 is the year where I really make a big leap.”
Americans Paul, Shelton and No. 29 Sebastian Korda all reached the last eight, becoming the most American men to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam since Andre Agassi, Robbie Ginepri and James Blake at the 2005 US Open. Korda retired against Karen Khachanov due to a wrist injury.
Paul is currently ranked No. 35 in the world, but rose to a career-high No. 28 last September. He came to Melbourne last year after making it to the fourth round of Wimbledon and the third round of the US Open. The 25-year-old budding star also reached the second round of the French Open in 2020, 2021 with wins over top opponents including Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev.
He said, “I’m really excited. It’s every person’s dream when they start playing tennis to play big matches at the Slams.”
Another big match lies ahead for the American as 21-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic awaits him in the semi-finals.
After defeating Agut in the third round, Paul said he was not satisfied because “the semi-finals feel much better than the quarter-finals every day of the week.” He will now get a chance to make it to the finals.
