Shelton Becomes Youngest American Man to Reach Wimbledon Quarterfinals in 21 Years

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday July 7, 2025
Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX

Big stage, big Ben.

American Ben Shelton continues to prove his worth at the majors as he powered past Lorenzo Sonego for the third time this year to reach his maiden Wimbledon quarterfinal, 3-6 6-1 7-6(1) 7-5 to become the youngest American to reach the last eight at the Championships since 2004.

Shelton, who improves to 11-2 at the majors in 2025, has only been defeated by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz this year at the Grand Slams. Sonego has surely seen enough of Shelton this year. The pair became the first duo to contest a singles match at the opening 3 Grand Slam tournaments of the year since 1984, when Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe met at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open (the Aussie Open was played last during this time).

All four matches have been tight, but always it has been the 22-year-old American who has battled through.

Of his 13 sets played so far, he has won all four tiebreaks contested, and he was clutch to take the third set on Monday with a brilliant finish.

In the fourth set, Shelton waited til the last minute and struck with his fourth break of the day to put the match away without too much drama, in three hours and five minutes.

“Before the last game, I was thinking ‘I don’t want to play another tiebreak’, especially against a guy serving the way he is,” said Shelton.

Shelton joins Fritz in the quarterfinals, which marks the second consecutive year that multiple American players have reached the men’s singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon; prior to 2024, the last time that multiple American men reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon was 2000.