Ben Shelton was close to defeating Rinky Hijikata at Wimbledon when play was stopped due to darkness. The match paused on No. 2 Court at 9:29 p.m. local time, with Shelton leading 6-2, 7-5, 5-4 and ready to serve for the win. Despite earning three match points on Hijikata’s serve before the suspension, Shelton could not secure his place in the third round.
Ranked No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Shelton is one game away from taking a 2-0 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and advancing to the third round at SW19 for the second year in a row. The winner will face either Marton Fucsovics or Gael Monfils, whose match also ended suspended with two sets each.
Shelton remains the highest-seeded player in his section after seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti’s first-round exit. He will return to No. 2 Court to resume play not before 12:30 p.m. on Friday, following Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who are set to start at 11 a.m.
In the ongoing match, Shelton has maintained his serve and performed well behind his second serve, winning 70 percent of those points. He has successfully saved all three break points against him while breaking Hijikata’s serve four times out of twelve chances.