Cameron Norrie of Great Britain plays a shot during his singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Top seeded American Ben Shelton has cruised into the ASB Classic semi finals. Shelton was relatively untroubled in his quarter-final against unseeded Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain winning 6-4, 6-3.
"Really happy to get through that one," the big-serving American said.
"A lot of my wins are roller-coaster, three set wins, so I'm not used to going through people in straight sets. I'm really trying to stick to my game plan this week and focus on playing the type of tennis I want to be playing three, four years from now."
Meanwhile, second seed Britain's Cam Norrie has been forced to withdraw from his quarter-final with a wrist injury, meaning unseeded Chilean Alejandro Tabilo goes through to the final four.
Tournament director Nicolas Lamperin said Norrie informed them of his withdrawl half an hour before his match was due to begin.
"He didn't experience anything during his match (last night), but this morning it was really painful," Lamperin said.
"He had a warm up and quickly found out he wouldn't be able to play today. He was pretty devastated when he told us, we all know how much this tournament means to him."
Meanwhile, Japan's Taro Daniel will meet Shelton in the semi finals after outlasting Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
The three-set quarter-final lasted 2 hours 40 minutes with Daniel winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to advance.
At the post match media conference Daniel said: "There were a few minutes there where I felt very heavy physically and mentally and I was like 'I don't know if I can keep doing it and may be it's just better to throw it in and go to Melbourne early'.
"Those thoughts come in - but I told myself to stay loose and that was the most important thing."
Wrapping up the quarters, sixth seed Frenchman Arthur Fils has claimed the final semi-final spot, after Daniel Altmaier was also forced to withdraw due to a foot injury.
A high octane first set required a tie break with Fils prevailing 7-6.
The teenager was delighted with the victory but felt for his opponent.
"It was a tough first set, he played incredible, I hope he recovers before the Australian Open."
The result squares the ledger between the pair, with the German taking the win at the Paris Masters.
"Three months ago he killed me, today I'm happy to win the first set, it was really tough."
Semi Finals:
Ben Shelton vs Taro Daniel
Alejandro Tabilo vs Arthur Fils
