Ben Shelton took revenge against Tommy Paul by beating him in straight at the 2023 US Open after losing to him earlier this year.
Shelton and Paul played at the Australian Open earlier this year, and Paul won that match. The lack of experience proved crucial as Shelton was playing his maiden Grand Slam outside of the United States. Fast forward to now, he's playing his 5th Grand Slam, and there isn't much uncertainty anymore, as he also said he wants to avoid 'panicking' ahead of this match.
Shelton admitted before the match that he was uncertain about how to approach the match but he knew what to do this time around. He was quite lucky to be fair as he opened by dropping his serve falling behind 0-3. Paul had a chance to go up 4-0 with more break points, but Shelton hung on.
That ultimately proved crucial for not only the opening set but also the match as Shelton broke back not long after that completely flipping the match. He would win the first set as Paul simply kind of faded away as the match went on.
We saw more and more unforced errors from Paul, which isn't unusual. He doesn't quite adjust when things go badly; he keeps playing his game and hoping for the best, though the best sometimes never comes. Shelton was pretty solid overall, but he could mainly force Paul into errors, which was very useful.
Obviously, Shelton's confidence grew after winning the opening set, even more so after winning the second set, and it was evident in the third set when he took an early break. Still, Paul wasn't done as he fought back from a 1-4 deficit actually to win the set 6-4. Paul won five games in a row to finish off the 3rd set in his favour.
The final set was a close one, but Shelton was closer to a break. Eventually, he would get it to finish it off 6-4. The final score was 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-4 for Shelton, who moves to the 2023 US Open quarterfinals, awaiting the winner of the match between Frances Tiafoe and Rinky Hijikata.
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