Jannik Sinner avenged his Shanghai Masters loss to Ben Shelton by beating him in the first round of the 2023 Vienna Open.
The Italian last played Shelton recently, losing to him at the Shanghai Masters, which wasn't a huge shock as he played in Beijing the previous week and went all the way to the trophy.
Such short turnarounds are very tough on tennis players, and it proved true once again as Shelton had to endure one of them. He recently played at the Japan Open, where he won his maiden ATP trophy, but it also complicated his Vienna Open participation.
He boarded a flight to Europe pretty much hours after the final, which isn't ideal, and it showed in this match. When you think about it, the match was pretty close considering the circumstances, and that's a really positive sign for Shelton, who is hoping to finish the year on a very high note.
The opening set went to a tiebreak where Sinner outplayed Shelton comfortably, but up until that point, the match was pretty close.
Both players had chances before the tie-break, but neither was able to get it done, as both played really well overall. Sinner was simply a bit sharper at the end of the set, which proved crucial. The second one was another close one, but this time around, it was Sinner who was mostly in control.
Shelton held on pretty well but eventually, he couldn't sustain his level, and the Italian broke late in the second set, which proved enough. The final score was 7-6(2) 7-5 for Sinner, who had 8 aces, 22 winners and only six unforced errors.
That's a pretty good win for the Italian, who will face Lorenzo Sonego in the next round. They played three times so far, and Sinner won all three matches.
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