Ben Shelton becomes youngest American man to reach Indian Wells quarterfinals in 21 years
The 22-year-old defeated countryman Brandon Nakashima in straight sets to reach the last eight in the desert.
Ben Shelton has advanced to the quarterfinals of Indian Wells for the first time in his career after a 7-6 (6), 6-1 fourth-round victory over fellow American Brandon Nakashima on Wednesday afternoon.
And there’s more: at 22 years old, Shelton is the youngest American man to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals since 2004, when a 21-year-old Andy Roddick made the last eight in the desert.
Roddick would fall to Tim Henman in the quarterfinals that year.
Shelton is now through to the third overall Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career, having gone this far in Shanghai in 2023 (falling to Sebastian Korda) and Cincinnati in 2024 (falling to Alexander Zverev).
He's now a win away from his first Masters 1000 semifinal.
Shelton had won all three previous meetings with Nakashima, and all seven sets, but every set was either 7-5 or 7-6—and that trend continued on Wednesday, as Shelton won a 63-minute first set in a tie-break.
But the floodgates opened in the second set, as he stormed out to a 5-0 lead, eventually serving the match out at love two games later.
Shelton finished the match with an impressive 26 winners to 18 unforced errors, with all of that surplus (and more) coming from a near-flawless second set, where he had 11 winners to just 2 unforced errors.
"For me the second set was outstanding," he said. "Whenever you can get a two-break win in a set against a server like that, it's really encouraging for where my level's at, where my serve is at, where my returning is at, how I'm moving on the court—so I'm pleased with my performance."
Shelton has already reached semifinals at the two biggest hard-court tournaments in the world, the US Open and the Australian Open, and he's now a win away from his first Masters 1000 semifinal on any surface.
"Masters are a big goal for me this year because there are so many throughout the year and such high stakes," he said. "So I'm really pleased to be in another quarterfinal, but I'm definitely searching for more."
Standing between the No. 11-seeded Shelton and that first Masters 1000 semifinal will be the winner of the match between No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 13 seed Jack Draper, which takes place later on Wednesday.