Ben Shelton came into the meeting with a 0-2 record against his opponent but battled past Lorenzo Musetti in a superbly entertaining 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 win in just under three hours.
Shelton missed his first set point when Musetti produced a lovely forehand cross court pass, but took his second chance with yet another unreturned first serve and wrapped up the opener in 48 minutes. In the fifth game of the second set, Shelton found himself breakpoint down and Musetti approached the net and won the point off a smash after two excellent volleys. He held on and served out a love game with a 197km/h ace to level up at a set all.
“[It was] really tough matchup for me. Out of all the guys on the top 20 and on tour, it’s one of the guys that gives me a lot of problems because he can neutralize my serve,” said Shelton afterwards. “His natural patterns go to my backhand side. He keeps the ball really low, great slice, and passes really well when I want to come to net. Not an easy task, and happy to get through it.”
The third set was a very tight affair with both men holding serve until the final game where Shelton found himself with a set point at 30-40 on the Musetti serve. During the rally, he unleashed a huge forehand and with huge roar to match and won the point on a smash before fist pumping to his box and crowd knowing he was now just a set away from the next round.
The fourth set went to a tie break featuring brilliant rallies and Shelton took a 5-3 lead after serving a 221km/h bomb to the body but was pegged back to 5-5 before serving out with the trusted “serve +1”. The American is backing himself to go deep into this year’s event, and is full of belief knowing he has the weapons to take opponent’s out of their comfort zone.
“I always feel like I have a chance. I always back myself. Playing the big guys, I feel like I have stuff that can make them uncomfortable. I never walk on the court not thinking I have a chance to win. If I’m healthy and I’m feeling good, I always feel like I can go the distance, five sets. That’s half the battle, trusting in your ability to make it all the way to the end.”
Shelton next faces veteran Gael Monfils – who is riding the momentum after winning the ABS Classic in Auckland in the run up to the opening Grand Slam – who today beat fourth seed Taylor Fritz. Shelton is well aware of his supreme athletic ability on court.
“For me it’s probably the greatest tennis highlight tape of all time. It’s Gael, just a lot of athletic plays. One of them was at Roland Garros when he dove for that overhead and then ended up winning the point. He was going nuts. For me if there’s one guy in all of sports, that guy who has the greatest mixed tape of all time — for me it’s Gael Monfils.”
Despite Fritz’s loss, Shelton continues the strong American showing at this year’s event, along with Learner Tien who is having a breakthrough tournament having backed up his sensational win over Daniil Medvedev by taking out Corentin Moutet in straight sets, while Alex Michelson also beat Karen Khachanov in three.
“I think that [Alex] is going to be towards the top of the game very soon. I just love the way he plays. I love watching him. He is just one of my guys that I love to watch and love being around. We’re going to play doubles at Indian Wells and Miami. So, looking forward to that. Then Learner – I just saw him walking past. Give him the congratulations. What he’s doing is really cool. On top of all the guys that are already at the top in the U.S., we have a lot more coming. It’s really starting to show itself.”