Indian Wells
The set went to a tie-break thanks to Sinner’s hold, and Shelton’s backhand brought the score to 4-all after Sinner had taken a double mini-break lead at 4-1.
However, the Italian took complete command of the match after that, winning the first set in 68 minutes with a string of three consecutive points, and then winning the second set in just 30 minutes. And the stats supported the narrative: at the conclusion of the game, Sinner had 17 wins to just 11 unforced errors, while Shelton had 14 winners to 35 unforced errors.
Jiri Lehecka, ranked 32nd, will be waiting for the No. 3 seed Sinner in the quarterfinals. Lehecka defeated No. 11 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 in the fourth round on Tuesday after upsetting No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev in the third round.
Sinner and Lehecka will be meeting for the first time at the tour level. In their previous meeting, which took place in 2019 at a Challenger on clay in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Sinner prevailed 6-4, 6-2. At the time, the Czech was not even ranked; the Italian was ranked 298th.