AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Eighth-ranked Ben Shelton was knocked out of the ATP 250 tournament in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday in a quarterfinal spread over two days because of rain.
The top-seeded Shelton lost 7-5, 6-3 to Sebastian Baez of Argentina, who is unseeded and ranked 39th.
Shelton led 1-0 in the second set on Thursday night when torrential rain caused the match to be suspended. When it resumed Friday, Baez served to level the match, then broke the American to lead 2-1.
Baez went on to beat American Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-4 in a semifinal later Friday. Three quarterfinals and both semifinals were played on the same day because of the rain disruptions.
Baez will play third-seeded Jakub Menšík, who reached Saturday's final when he beat Fabian Marozsan 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-1. Marozsan had beaten defending champion Gael Monfils in the first round and second-seeded Casper Ruud in the second.
Baez swept through the first set against Giron in 27 minutes but faced a much tougher contest in the second set. He had an early break but Giron broke back to level the set at 4-4. Baez then gained the crucial break in the ninth game in which there were six deuces and four break points.
“This is a good preparation for Australia, for sure,” Baez said. “In that case I'm happy to take both matches today.”
The 23-year-old Shelton, the top-ranked American on tour ahead of No. 9 Taylor Fritz, now heads to the Australian Open in which he will play Ugo Humbert of France in the first round.
At a news conference in Auckland, Shelton said he believes there are young players capable of bridging the gap to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who have won the last eight Grand Slam singles titles between them.
He hopes to be one of them.
“They’ve certainly been ahead of the pack the last couple years,” Shelton said. “But in my mind there’s definitely guys who can come up there and challenge, young guys who are playing great, better and better every year.
Alcaraz is 22 and Sinner 24.
“To be doing what Alcaraz and Sinner are doing at such a young age is not normal but there’s so many young guys who haven’t fully developed or we haven’t seen their best tennis yet.”
Shelton said the 2025 season “was a great stepping stone for me . . . there’s so many things I improved on in 2025 versus 2024."
“And, for me, it’s not all about the results. It’s more what I find in my game, the things that I figure out,” Shelton added. "So there is a lot to be able to build off of this year.”
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - Ben Shelton of the U.S. plays a forehand return to Jannik Sinner of Italy during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the artificial intelligence company a “ supply chain risk ” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.
Anthropic filed two separate lawsuits Monday, one in California federal court and another in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., each challenging different aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company.
The Pentagon last week formally designated the San Francisco tech company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare.
“These actions are unprecedented and unlawful," Anthropic's lawsuit says. "The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”
The Defense Department declined to comment Monday.
Anthropic said it sought to restrict its technology from being used for two high-level usages: mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials insisted the company must accept “all lawful uses” of Claude and threatened punishment if the company did not comply.
Designating the company a supply chain risk cuts off Anthropic defense work using an authority that was designed to prevent foreign adversaries from harming national security systems. It was the first time the federal government is known to have used the designation against a U.S. company.
President Donald Trump also said he would order federal agencies to stop using Claude, though he gave the Pentagon six months to phase out a product that’s deeply embedded in classified military systems, including those used in the Iran war.
Even as it fights the Pentagon’s actions, Anthropic has sought to convince businesses and other government agencies that the Trump administration’s penalty is a narrow one that only affects military contractors when they are using Claude in work for the Department of Defense.
Making that distinction clear is crucial for the privately held Anthropic because most of its projected $14 billion in revenue this year comes from businesses and government agencies that are using Claude for computer coding and other tasks. More than 500 customers are paying Anthropic at least $1 million annually for Claude, according to investment that had valued the company at $380 billion.
FILE- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, right, arrive to look at a display of multi-domain autonomous systems in the Pentagon courtyard, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a welcome ceremony for the Japanese defense minister at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
