No. 10 seed Ben Shelton finally booked his spot in the third round of Wimbledon after his match against Rinky Hijikata was suspended at a crucial moment on Thursday night. The American asked for play to be halted after he took a two-set lead, as he feared the grass was becoming slippery and didn’t want to get halfway through the third set before being forced off.
But his worst fears came true – Shelton blew three match points in Hijikata’s serve at 5-3 and was prepared to serve it out at 5-4 when the umpire officially suspended play around 9.30pm due to darkness. The American was understandably furious, but he came back to close out a 6-2 7-5 6-4 victory in just 70 seconds on Friday afternoon.
Shelton and Hijikata walked onto Court 2 and 1.23pm and resumed play at 1.29pm. From when Shelton started serving again, he served out the match to love, and it was over by 1.30pm.
The 22-year-old hit three aces and a service winner to get the job done – sending a statement and proving that he easily could have got the job done on Thursday night.
Hijikata immediately left the court, while Shelton addressed the fans on Court 2, apologising for getting the job done so quickly.
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