Wimbledon 2025: Ben Shelton advances to first Wimbledon quarterfinal, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in 4 sets

No. 10 seed Ben Shelton became the second American men’s player to advance to the 2025 Wimbledon quarterfinals, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in four sets 3-6, 6-1, 7-6, 7-5. Shelton has made it to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time in his career.

With that, Shelton’s sister, Emma, will get to continue her stay in England through at least Wednesday while taking a break from her job at Morgan Stanley. Emma was supposed to return to work in the United States on Monday. But she got the rest of the week off after Ben publicly requested for his “lucky charm” to remain with him following his third-round win over Márton Fucsovics on Saturday.

Advertisement

Shelton will face Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. The No. 1 seed lost the first two sets to No. 19 Gregor Dimitrov, but the Bulgarian had to retire during the third set due to a pectoral muscle injury.

Monday’s match was the third time Shelton has defeated Sonego in a Grand Slam tournament, previously besting him at the Australian Open and French Open.

Sonego frustrated Shelton early by handling his serve and preventing him from getting aces. More importantly, the Italian kept his opponent guessing throughout the first set, mixing together a variety of shots to keep Shelton off rhythm. Sonego seemed to use everything in his arsenal — drop shots at the net, slices down the line and cross-court lobs — to keep Shelton moving.

Advertisement

Additionally, Sonego controlled play with his serve, which seemingly forced Shelton to take extra time to get set before receiving. At one point, the umpire warned him about that tactic. Yet Shelton argued that Sonego was taking 25 seconds or more to serve — something that was an issue in Sunday’s fourth-round match between Cameron Norrie and Nicolás Jarry.

“No matter what he will never start before it’s down to 3, 2, 1,” Shelton could be heard telling umpire Alison Hughes as the players changed sides, according to the Daily Express.

Getting rattled and appearing to lose his focus resulted in Shelton losing the first set rather decisively, 6-3.

Advertisement

That changed in the second set, though Sonego still had an answer for Shelton’s serve. The set turned when Shelton broke serve and won the fourth game on Sonego’s double-fault. Whether intentional or not, Sonego continued to try and throw off Shelton’s rhythm with longer serve times and bathroom breaks.

By that point, Shelton channeled whatever frustration he may have felt into his play and quickly won the second set, 6-1.

Both players went back and forth in the third set, neither gaining an advantage on their serve. Sonego fell hard behind the baseline while stretching for a return, resulting in Shelton going up 4-3. But a similar play occurred on Shelton’s end on the next point and Sonego evened it up.

Advertisement

The third set went to a tiebreaker when Shelton held serve and returned a forehand down the line as he got Sonego moving in the opposite direction. He finally overpowered Sonego a few times with his serve, and won the tie-breaking set, extending himself to reach a backhand return for the point.

However, Sonego didn’t go down quietly, battling back in the fourth set by again handling Shelton’s serve and consistently returning it. Footing returned as an issue for Shelton as he slipped a couple of times. Yet he was able to recover and win points that Sonego appeared to have in hand.

Sonego held his serve to tie the set at 5-5 and it looked as if another tiebreaker was imminent. But Shelton finally broke him when Sonego couldn’t land a forehand return inside the line. That was followed up by two blistering cross-court returns that Sonego couldn’t handle, and Shelton was on to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Advertisement

Shelton was able to enjoy the win further during his interview with the BBC’s Annabel Croft. He was asked to compare tennis to America’s most popular sport, football, and his past as a “quarter-backer.”

“I grew up playing quarterback — or ‘quarter-backer,’ either way,” , drawing a big laugh from the crowd. “Probably the only thing that’s a direct correlation with tennis is the serve. That’s kind of the one thing I took from football to the tennis court.”

Shelton then compared being on a football team to the team supporting him — including his sister and girlfriend, NWSL and USWNT star Trinity Rodman. Everyone in that entourage will have their visit to Wimbledon extended for at least one more match against the world No. 1 player.

Sinner has a 5-1 record versus Shelton, defeating him most recently at the Australian Open in the semifinals. The Italian also prevailed in last year’s Wimbledon tournament in the round of 16. Both victories were in straight sets.