By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sixth seed Ben Shelton retired injured from his U.S. Open third-round match while locked at two sets all against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Friday in a massive blow to American hopes of ending their 22-year wait for a men’s Grand Slam champion.
Shelton grabbed at his left shoulder and winced in pain after hitting a forehand shot early in the fourth set in a tight clash on Louis Armstrong Stadium and pinched at the spot as he prepared to receive a serve from Mannarino in the second game.
“I just did something to my shoulder I don’t know what it is. I’m in a lot of pain,” Shelton said to his father and coach, Bryan Shelton, before taking a medical timeout midway through the second game in the fourth set.
Shelton later added to his father that it was the “worst pain” he had felt in his life, before meeting with the physio again, but found himself on an even footing with left-hander Mannarino who produced some moments of magic.
Shelton, tipped as a possible contender to become the first American man to win at Flushing Meadows since Andy Roddick’s triumph in 2003, looked dejected at the break and shed tears into his towel before he pulled out to gasps from the home crowd.
“When he started to have pain he was leading, he would probably have won the match,” said Mannarino, who came back from a set down to level at 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-4 when the match was abandoned.
“It’s very lucky for me and unlucky for him, of course I’m happy to get through but I wish him the best.
“I was having good fun on court there were some long rallies lost some of them, won some of them. It was fun to play. Ben is such an amazing player, it was a great match I was enjoying my time on court even if I was losing.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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