In his first match since withdrawing from the US Open, Ben Shelton was swept aside in straight sets by David Goffin at the Shanghai Masters on Friday.
The American sixth seed was dismissed 6-2, 6-4, in just under 80 minutes by former top-10 player Goffin. It is the first time Shelton has lost his opening match at an ATP event since the Mallorca Open in June. Coming into Shanghai, the 22-year-old was cautiously optimistic about his chances of securing enough points to qualify for the ATP Finals later this year in Turin. Even though he has been hampered by a left shoulder injury in recent weeks, which forced him to retire from his third round match at the US Open last month.
“It’s the first time that I’ve put myself in a good position, at this point in the year, to make Turin,” Shelton recently told the ATP Tour website. “Hopefully I get a couple more good results and get over the line.”
Shelton is only the second top 10 player to have been beaten by Goffin this year after Carlos Alcaraz, who was stunned by the Belgian in Miami. The 34-year-old has recorded back-to-back wins on the ATP Tour for the first time since April. Earlier this week in Shanghai, he also defeated France’s Alexandre Müller in a three-set match.
“I’m really happy with the way I played,” Goffin told Tennis TV.
“I needed these kinds of matches and the first round was good as well.
“I was struggling the whole summer coming back from my foot injury. I’m really happy because I worked a lot on my fitness and mentally as well on what I want to do in the last tournaments of the season.
“It’s paying off now with a good level of tennis on a court that I really like, so hopefully next round I can play on these courts again.”
Goffin has won six ATP titles during his career and reached the quarter-final stage of a Grand Slam on four occasions. He was also runner-up at the 2017 ATP Finals. Now a veteran on the Tour, Goffin believes the key for him to compete with the best in the world is problem-solving during matches.
“When I was ten years younger, I was not the strongest player on the Tour. So I had to find solutions.” He said.
“I still have almost the same body. So I have to find the same solution to get those (wins).
“That kind of player with a powerful serve and good fitness. I had to take the ball early, try to step in the court to come at the net as soon as I had the occasion. That’s what I did perfectly (against Shelton), especially in the first set.”
Goffin will next play Canadian 31st seed Gabriel Diallo, who beat Benjamin Bonzi 6-4, 6-4,
