Shanghai Masters: Sebastian Korda Progress into the Semis with victory over Ben Shelton 

Sebastian Korda avoided a big choke and beat Ben Shelton in three sets to reach semi-finals at the Shanghai Masters.

The 23-year-old American defeated his fellow 21-year-old compatriots 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6) in Shanghai on Thursday to enter third semi-finals in three weeks.

“It’s super cool,” said Korda, when asked about reaching his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final. “I played a really high level. Ben did as well, so I think it was a really high level. We had a lot of great points out there and hopefully it’s the first of many battles that we play against each other.

“He’s such an electric tennis player and it was a lot of fun to share the court with him today.”

Korda became the first semi-finalist from the United States in Shanghai tournament history and improved to 7-5 against Top 20 opponents this season.

“I’m just thankful to stay calm,” said Korda after staving off Shelton’s late charge. “I played some bad points but I always believed in myself, even at 6/6. I just thought about putting the return in the court, somehow getting my racquet on it and luckily I finished it off then.”

Victory also means Korda will make his debut in the semi-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event when he face Hubi Hurkacz on saturday, an opponent who he beat earlier this year at the Australian Open.

Earlier, Hubert Hurkacz kept his cool in the face of an early Fabian Marozsan onslaught to book a semi-final berth after a  4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory to set up a semi-final clash with Sebastian Korda.