The ATP Auckland tournament was suspended this Thursday due to adverse weather conditions that affected five main draw matches. Among them, the focus was on the match between Sebastián Báez and Ben Shelton, which had to be interrupted when the Argentine was in the lead and showing a great level, according to the Argentine News Agency (NA). Báez had won the first set 7-5 and was dominating the start of the second set when the rain forced the match to be stopped, with the score at 1-0 and 30/15 in his favor. The match was suspended after one hour and four minutes of play, frustrating the Argentine's chance to secure his sixth consecutive victory at the start of the 2026 season. At the time of the interruption, the player from Buenos Aires was once again confirming his great form on the circuit, being one of the most consistent players in the first weeks of the year. In fact, the rain was the first serious obstacle Báez had encountered in Auckland, where he had advanced authoritatively in previous rounds and was poised to make one of the tournament's upsets against the main favorite. The organization confirmed that the match between Báez and Shelton will resume at night in Argentina (Friday in Australia), and the winner will face Marcos Giron in the semifinals, who was the only one to manage to complete his quarterfinal match by defeating Italian Luciano Darderi in an extensive encounter. In addition to Báez's match, two other singles matches were left unfinished due to rain: Fabian Marozsan was leading 5-4 against Eliot Spizzirri, while Jakub Mensik and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard had just started their match.
