Ben Shelton won his first two ATP Masters 1000 matches over Top-100 ranked players
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida men’s tennis junior Ben Shelton entered the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati prepared to make his ATP Masters 1000 debut and he finished the tournament on Thursday with a pair of impressive wins under his belt.
The Gainesville, Fla. native earned a main draw wild card into this week’s Western & Southern open following his impressive run as the runner-up in the Chicago Men’s Challenger and he made the most of the opportunity.
In Shelton’s first Masters 1000 match on Tuesday, Shelton took on ATP #56 Lorenzo Sonego in the Round of 64. With the 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5, triumph over Sonego, he became the first reigning NCAA singles champion to win an ATP Masters 1000 match in the same season since the series began in 1990. Following a rain delay in the third set, Shelton returned up 6-5 and delivered a clutch break to earn the win.
The win marked Shelton’s first top-100 victory and pushed him into the Top-200 of next week’s Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
Shelton’s next test was with French Open runner-up and ATP #5 Casper Ruud on Wednesday. He once again showed he was ready for the moment. Shelton took down Ruud in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. He jumped out to a two game lead in both sets and the early breaks set him up to take care of business.
Shelton became the youngest American to defeat a Top-5 opponent since 2001 when Andy Roddick beat top-ranked Gustavo Kuerten at the Tennis Masters Series-Canada in Montreal.
With his first win over a Top-50, Top-10 and Top-5 opponent under his belt, Shelton squared off with ATP #11 Cameron Norrie in the Round of 16. This is where his run came to a halt as Norrie defeated Shelton, 6-0, 6-2.
Shelton earned a wild card into the singles main draw at the 2022 US Open and the Grand Slam begins on Aug. 29.
Quotes
Ben Shelton
On his rise up the ATP rankings…
“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Shelton said. “I didn’t realize that, but it’s cool that I made top 200. It was definitely a check mark for me. I’m glad that I’m moving in the right direction.”
