Rising star Ben Shelton began his 2024 US Open campaign against Dominic Thiem, for whom this was his last-ever US Open match.
Thiem will retire from the sport later this year at the end of the season, but this was also a very emotional occasion for him. His only Grand Slam trophy came at the US Open four years ago, and this was the last match he would ever play in New York.
Nobody expected him to win because he was facing Shelton, who made it to the semi-final last year. The American has looked very impressive on the tennis courts recently, and Thiem didn't even play any preparation events for this major. His last tournament was a few weeks ago on clay.
As a result, the match went about as expected, as Shelton is clearly the far better player at the moment. It was a much easier time for him than last year when they played. Similarly to that match, the opening set was close, but Shelton didn't need a tie-break this time around.
The American broke his opponent’s serve at 5-4 to win the opening set 6-4. Thiem played well, but he went only as far as his serve carried him. If he missed his serve, his opponent was all over him.
The match was generally snappy, with lots of short rallies. After taking that opening set, Shelton looked even more confident. Thiem also kind of lost his rhythm a little bit in the second set, as Shelton was able to take an early break.
After that, it was an easy cruise to the finish line, winning the second set 6-2. Shelton was untouchable on his serve because he was serving incredibly well. Not only did he hit his serve at a high rate, he was able to easily convert most of those points.
He dropped only four points behind his first serve, winning 91% of those. Even on the second serve of his opponent, the Austrian wasn't able to do much because he was simply overpowered from the baseline.
It was clear that he hadn't been playing much tennis lately, as he was fairly late and not that energetic. The final set had a similar pattern as Thiem started well but then played a bad game in which he had game points.
The same thing happened in the opening set, as he rushed a little. He tried to do things he couldn't do, and Shelton punished that relentlessly.
After taking a 4-1 lead in the final set, Shelton cruised to the finish line without any worries, keeping this match in under two hours. This wasn't the best performance from Shelton, but it was good enough to win a match without too many problems.
He finished with 34 winners and only 17 unforced errors, which is a far better mark than Thiem's, as the youngster won the match 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Ben Shelton vs Dominic Thiem Match Stats:
| Ben Shelton | Dominic Thiem | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Aces | 2 |
| 2 | Double Faults | 7 |
| 74% | First Serve % | 47% |
| 91% (41/45) | Points Won After First Serve % | 64% (29/45) |
| 75% (12/16) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 44% (22/50) |
| 45% (5/11) | Break Point Conversion | 0% (0/1) |
| 34 | Winners | 11 |
| 17 | Unforced Errors | 23 |
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