There's a notable synchronicity as Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda meet in the Rolex Shanghai Masters quarterfinals on Thursday. Both fast-rising Americans with big serves as weapons, they have each followed famous fathers into their respective careers on the ATP Tour.
And they are each aiming to add to the big-stage performances they've far showcased so far in their Shanghai debuts.
For Shelton, progress to a first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal - a milestone already achieved at Grand Slam level - has featured wins over Jaume Munar, Roman Safiullin and Jannik Sinner.
Korda, who has matched his best Masters performance from 2021 Miami in reaching the quarterfinals, is yet to drop a set in wins over Yunchaokete Bu, Daniil Medvedev and Francisco Cerundolo.
Within each of those campaigns, there are headline-grabbing victories: Shelton ended Sinner's seven-match win streak in China, while Korda upset No.2 seed (and defending champion) Daniil Medvedev for the second time this year.
As Shelton and Korda captivate a global tennis audience, their former pro-playing fathers are proudly watching on.
Shelton's father and coach, Bryan, has done so in person this week at Qi Zhong Stadium, providing a supportive voice from the side of the court.
Petr Korda, a former world No.2 and the Australian 1996 champion, is keeping up with his son's progress from his home in the US.
"Whenever I'm in this time zone or my sisters are here in Asia playing golf he's always watching. He kind of shifts his time zone to here," Sebastian explained after defeating Medvedev in the second round.
As they looked ahead to their first ATP-level match in Shanghai, Shelton and Korda were excited for the all-American clash. "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 said. "I'm looking forward to it. Sebi's a great guy and playing really, really good form."
Korda agrees. "It's going to be exciting for everyone, not only for me, I'm sure the fans are going to love it. Hopefully, the best player wins on the day," he said.
Fabian Marozsan will be aiming to claim a fifth straight upset of a higher-ranked opponent as he faces Hubert Hurkacz in the other quarterfinal.
The world No.91 from Hungary has defeated No.11 seed Alex de Minaur and No.8 Casper Ruud to reach a first quarterfinal in only the second ATP Masters 1000 tournament he has played. it's a good chance also for me," Marozsan said of his first career meeting with the No.16 seed.
After earlier wins over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Yu Hsiou Hsu, Hurkacz survived a three-set test against Zhang Zhizhen in the third round. He expects another one against the in-form Marozsan.
"It's going to be a battle," Hurkacz said. "To be honest, I haven't seen him play much, but he just beat, you know, Casper, who is an incredible player, and I think that those conditions were quite decent for Casper, so it's just going to be battle and then we'll leave it all out there.
