New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- Ben Shelton struck first. He created early break points on return and converted one in the opening set, taking it 6-3 in 32 minutes. Hubert Hurkacz's first-serve percentage was low, and the extra second-serve looks gave Shelton something to work with.

The Pole answered in the second set. He broke once, held his own serve with a string of aces and levelled the match at one set all, 7-5. From there the contest became a holding pattern. Both men saved break points, both produced seven-point winning streaks, and neither could string together more than three games in a row.

The third set went to a breaker. Shelton took it 7-3 to move ahead two sets to one. That was the only tiebreak of the afternoon, and it proved decis...