Ben Shelton needs four points and about a minute to wrap up win over Aussie Rinky Hijikata

Two-time grand slam semi-finalist Ben Shelton needed all of about a minute and exactly four points — three of which were aces — to wrap up a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Australian Rinky Hijikata on Friday night (AEST) in a second-round Wimbledon match suspended the night before because of darkness at 5-4 in the third set.

"Very different playing over two days and coming out for whatever that was — 55 seconds? — today," the 10th-seeded Shelton said.

"I was hoping to maybe hit a few groundstrokes today. I might have to go to the practice courts."

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Hijikata was also perplexed by the postponement of the match.

"Last night's experience was bizarre … but that was probably an absolute clinic on how to serve out a match if you've got one game to go," Hijikata said.

"Yeah, credit to him. It's not easy to come out and serve out a match when you have a bit of pressure and you've had the night off. I thought it was a bloody good effort by him."

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Shelton told the crowd: "I'm sorry that you guys didn't really get to see much tennis." AP

The American, who reached the final four at the 2023 US Open and this year's Australian Open, was about to try to serve out the match on Thursday at 9.30pm local when action was halted at No.2 Court, which does not have a roof or artificial lights.

They came back out to the same stadium a little less than 16 hours later and, after a warm-up period that was quite a bit longer than the resumption of actual play, Shelton began with a 226km/h ace.

The 22-year-old left-hander then hit a second serve that resulted in a framed return by Hijikata, followed with an ace at 225km/h and one more at 189km/h to end things quickly.

"You come out here, serving for the match, the nerves are there a little bit. To hit three aces and take the pressure off of myself, I couldn't have been happier with what I came out here and did," said Shelton, who will face 105th-ranked Marton Fucsovics of Hungary for a chance to reach the fourth round at the All England Club for the second consecutive year.

Right before things were halted on Thursday, Rinky Hijikata saved three match points. AP

Shelton told the crowd: "I'm sorry that you guys didn't really get to see much tennis."

Right before things were halted the day before, Shelton held three match points while leading 5-3 and at love-40 on Hijikata's serve. But the 87th-ranked Hijikata grabbed the next five points to extend the contest.

Shelton faced only three break points against Hijikata, saving all of them.

"A great match," he said. "A clean match."

Watch all the action from Wimbledon 2025 live & on-demand on Stan Sport, with two courts in 4K UHD. Coverage of select matches free-to-air on Nine and streaming on 9Now

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