ATP Auckland: Daniel upsets Shelton to book spot in final

Japan’s Taro Daniel upset top seeded American Ben Shelton 7-5, 7-6 (9) to move into the final of the Auckland Open at the ASB Tennis Arena on Friday.

Daniel is through to the second ATP singles final of his career (the first since 2018) and is also the fifth top 20 win of his career (three of which have come in the last seven months).

Daniel is projected to climb to a new career-high of No 56 after his semi-final and could climb higher if he wins the title on Saturday. He also becomes only the fourth player from Japan to defeat a top 20 player in the semi-finals or finals of an ATP event.

Daniel, ranked No 74 in the world, will face the winner of the second semi-final between Frenchman Arthur Fils, the No 6 seed, and Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo next.

The Japanese player beat Australian Aleksandar Vukic (7-5, 7-5), Australian Max Purcell, the No 8 seed (6-2, 6-4) and French qualifier Alexandre Muller (6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3) in prior matches in Auckland this week.

In the previous rounds of the tournament, Shelton, ranked No 16 in the world and on a 10-match winning streak against players ranked outside the top 50 prior to this one, won against Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (6-3, 6-4) and Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (6-4, 6-3).

Auckland ATP 250, other semi-final (ASB Tennis Arena, hard, USD 739,945):

• Arthur Fils vs. Alejandro Tabilo

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