Stat of the Day: Three Americans—Shelton, Korda, Nakashima—have beaten Top 5 players in Shanghai

American men’s tennis has been on an upswing—just recently, three American men reached the quarters of the US Open for the first time since 2005, and there are currently four Americans in the ATP Top 20.

And the U.S. contingent has continued to shine in Shanghai this week.

With Ben Shelton’s 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over No. 4-ranked Jannik Sinner on Tuesday, Americans have now taken out three of the four Top 5 players in the draw at the Masters 1000 event.

Brandon Nakashima broke the ice by taking out No. 5-ranked Holger Rune in the second round, 6-0, 6-2, followed by Sebastian Korda upsetting No. 3-ranked Daniil Medvedev in the third round, 7-6 (8), 6-2.

For all three of them, it was the biggest win of their career.

Nakashima’s victory over Rune on Friday wasn’t just his first Top 5 or Top 10 win, it was his first Top 15 win—his best win before this came against a No. 16-ranked Denis Shapovalov at Wimbledon last year.

Korda’s victory over Medvedev on Sunday was his first Top 5 win, his best previous win coming also coming against Medvedev at the Australian Open this year, when the Russian was ranked No. 8.

And Shelton outdid his best previous win by one spot, having defeated a No. 5-ranked Casper Ruud at Cincinnati last year.

Shelton and Korda will now play each other in the quarterfinals, with the winner advancing to the first Masters 1000 semifinal of their career.

“I’m really excited whenever Americans are going deep in the draw, it’s something really cool for me to see, so one of us will be in the semifinals here in Shanghai, which is awesome,” Shelton told reporters. “But yeah, looking forward to it. Sebi’s a great guy and playing really, really good form. He beat the No. 2 player in the world, No. 3 player in the world, Medvedev, and arguably one of the best hard-court seasons on tour. I think that shows how well Sebi’s playing.

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to a battle.”

The only other Top 5 player in Shanghai, No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, could potentially play an American in the semifinals, either Tommy Paul or J.J. Wolf, should they all make it to that round.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is not competing in Shanghai and will return to action in a few weeks at the Masters 1000 event in Paris.