Sinner avenges Shanghai defeat to Shelton. Tsitsipas rants at umpire

SHANGHAI (AP) — Jannik Sinner avenged his defeat to Ben Shelton in the fourth round of last year's Shanghai Masters with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) to spoil the 22-year-old American's birthday on Wednesday.

Like last year, the duel again featured some incredible shot-making and serving dominance but this time the 23-year old Italian prevailed to improve his record against Shelton to 4-1.

"Happy how I handled this situation, it’s obviously a position where I have been last year, and where I am right now, it’s different, so I’m happy to be in the position where I am," Sinner said.

Sinner's break in the ninth game was all that separated the duo in the opening set. Both players then dominated on their own serve through the second before the Italian sped away in the tiebreak and won the last seven points of the match to advance to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the year.

He will play fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who earlier beat long-time rival Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (3), 6-3, in a match where the Greek player launched into a minutes-long rant against the chair umpire Fergus Murphy over a time violation call and initially refused to continue playing.

“You have never played tennis in your life. You have no clue about tennis, it seems like,” Tsitsipas said to Murphy. “Definitely you’ve had no career. You probably played serve-and-volley every single time.

“Anyways, tennis is a physical sport and we need some time over there. You have to show some compassion because you aren’t showing any.

“It’s a physical sport. We are not throwing darts out here, okay?

"If it’s going to be unfair, I need to talk to the supervisor. You seem like you have no idea what you’re doing," Tsitsipas continued as the crowd began to slow clap.

In a similar incident the day prior, Frances Tiafoe cursed repeatedly at a chair umpire after losing his third round match and later apologized.

Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who won the China Open in a thriller against Sinner last week, made it 12 consecutive wins with a testing 6-4, 7-5 victory over French veteran Gael Monfils to advance to the quarterfinals.

Alcaraz needed all his shot-making abilities to outmaneuvre the 38-year-old Monfils, with the 21-year-old Spaniard making 22 winners and taking a break in each set to clinch the match in 87 minutes.

The French Open and Wimbledon champion will play Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals.

Later Wednesday, Novak Djokovic continues his bid for a 100th career title as he faces 61st-ranked Roman Safiullin.

Also, third-ranked Alexander Zverev plays David Goffin of Belgium and seventh-ranked Taylor Fritz plays Holger Rune of Denmark.

Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka maintained her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open, opening her campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over 37th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in a second-round match on Wednesday.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka, who received a bye in the first round with the other top eight seeds, broke her Czech opponent twice in each set — as well as surrendering one of her own service games — as she clinched her latest win in 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.

In the third round, the 26-year-old Belarussian will play Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who ended Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic’s tournament with 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.

The reigning U.S. Open champion is now up to 13-0 in Wuhan after winning the title on her first appearance in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 before the tournament took its five-year hiatus from the calendar due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and a WTA boycott of China.

“I missed Wuhan a lot,” Sabalenka said. “I just have really good memories of winning, two times, the title here. Just Wuhan brings me a lot of great memories, good vibes.”

Sabalenka needs only to make the quarterfinals at Wuhan to regain top spot in the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who withdrew from the women’s Asian swing citing fatigue and personal reasons. Swiatek recently split with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

There were six Americans in second round matches on Wednesday.

China Open champion Coco Gauff routed Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-2 in 75 minutes, while Hailey Baptiste upset 10th-ranked Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 for her first win over a Top-10 player.

Magdalena Frech beat eighth-ranked Emma Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in just over two hours, and No. 11-ranked Daria Kasatkina overcame a mid-match stumble to defeat Amercian Bernarda Pera 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Amanda Anisimova withdrew from her match against 17th-ranked Marta Kostyuk.

Later Wednesday, third-ranked Jessica Pegula plays Anastasia Potapova and the Andreeva sisters — Mirra and Erika — face each other for the first time at a tour-level tournament.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand return against Ben Shelton of the United States during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Ben Shelton of the United States plays a backhand return against Jannik Sinner of Italy during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece talks to an umpire during the men's singles fourth round match against Daniil Medvedev of Russia, in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece plays a forehand return against Daniil Medvedev of Russia during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Daniil Medvedev of Russia receives a medical timeout during the men's singles fourth round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Daniil Medvedev of Russia, left, stands watch as Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece talks to an ATP official during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain is congratulated by Gael Monfils of France after winning in the men's singles fourth round match of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Gael Monfils of France reacts during the men's singles fourth round match against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Gael Monfils of France in the men's singles fourth round match of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Jannik Sinner of Italy reacts during the men's singles fourth round match against Ben Shelton of the United States, in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

SYDNEY (AP) — Belinda Bencic rallied from a set down to stun No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to give Switzerland a surprise lead over Poland in the final of the United Cup on Sunday.

Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of this season, played Hubert Hurkacz later Sunday, with the Polish player needing to win to keep his country in the tie.

Bencic, who had won all four of her singles and four mixed doubles matches this week, came into her match against Świątek having lost her last five matches against the former No. 1-ranked player.

It looked as if that trend was going to continue as Świątek started strongly and claimed the opening set 6-3 at Ken Rosewall Arena.

But the No.11-ranked Bencic shifted the momentum by winning nine consecutive points to open the second, evening the match in a swift 33-minute set.

The decisive third set hinged on a crucial break at 2-1, where Bencic capitalized on a powerful forehand to seize control. While Swiatek fought to save two match points with consecutive aces, her effort was hampered by an uncharacteristic 36 unforced errors, compared to just 10 from Bencic.

Bencic sealed the win with a sublime backhand winner into the open court on her third match point.

“To be honest, I felt I was in the match from the very first point,” Bencic said. “I thought I was going great and I was 0-3 down. I was ‘OK, what do I have to do.’ I think I just tried to keep the level and just wait for some chances.”

“I think the difference today was I played very freely, I was really enjoying myself out on the court and I was just really going for it.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Iga Swiatek of Poland hits a forehand to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland during their final match at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, right, and Iga Swiatek of Poland meet at the net after Bencic won their final match at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Iga Swiatek of Poland Belinda reacts after missing a shot to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland during their final match at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland celebrates defeting Iga Swiatek of Poland in their final match at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, left, celebrates with teammate Stan Wawrinka after defeting Iga Swiatek of Poland in their final match at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)