"That will be fun": Ben Shelton to face Jannik Sinner for second year running in Shanghai R16

“Oh, yeah?”

Ben Shelton hadn’t looked at the draw after his latest victory Tuesday in Shanghai, but soon found out another crack at world No. 1 Jannik Sinner awaits.

The left-hander defeated Roberto Carballes Baena, 6-3, 6-4, to line up the fourth-round encounter. Shelton did not face a break point, as he won 35 of his 38 first-serve points.

“I thought I served extremely well, probably my best serving day this year. I thought I did a good job capitalizing in big moments to get my breaks,” Shelton assessed with media. “As a big server, if you can serve as accurately as I did today, and break once a set, you're in a pretty good position.

“I like the way that my game is coming together.”

Shelton knocked out Sinner at this very stage of the Rolex Shanghai Masters a year ago. The Italian has since gone on to win two majors and reach world No, 1, amid an anti-doping case, and taken three consecutive meetings with the former NCAA champion.

WATCH: Highlights from their 2023 Shanghai duel ⤴️

All of those defeats to Sinner have straight-set eliminations, most recently in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Shelton is focused on “living in the moment”, though admits to occasionally looking back on the good times that rolled.

“Great memories from that match last year, I probably watched the tape of that a couple times so far this year,” said Shelton. “I'm really looking forward to it, that will be fun.”

“It's always a big opportunity whenever you get to play one of the best two or three players in the world.”

The 21-year-old is 1-4 against Top 10 opponents this season, with his lone victory coming a couple weeks ago over world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev at the Laver Cup. Shelton is bidding to become the first player to oust Sinner before the quarterfinal stage of an event in 2024.

“Obviously, huge serve and huge forehand. He has improved a lot, so hopefully I will be ready,” Sinner said when asked about the potential matchup with the No. 16 seed Sunday.

Meanwhile, seventh seed Taylor Fritz will meet 12th seed Holger Rune for a quarterfinal berth after both joined Shelton in advancing. Fritz defeated qualifier Yosuke Watanuki, 6-3, 6-4, while Rune secured a 6-4, 7-5 victory over 33rd seed Jiri Lehecka.