Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Musetti met in the second round of the 2023 Cinch Championships at the Queen's Club.
The two youngsters met for the first time on the ATP Tour, but surely, it won't be their last meeting as the 21-year-old Italian, as well as the 20-year-old American, are both prospects that their countries will rely on for the years to come.
While Musetti already had a quarterfinal run in Stuttgart this year, recording his first two victories on the surface in his career, Shelton started his Wimbledon preparation at the Queen's Club.
Similar to the clay-court swing, the American never played on the grass before, but he showed a solid level in his first match, beating compatriot J.J. Wolf in two sets. However, the match was overshadowed by controversy as Shelton seemingly won a point that he shouldn't have after hitting the ball twice.
But he certainly forgot that as he stepped onto the court against the sixth-seeded Italian as both players had to show their best tennis in order to advance. But in the first set, Shelton didn't find his range on serve quickly enough.
Already in the third game, Musetti forced him to face multiple break points, and using his fourth chance, the Italian went into a one-break lead, never looking back and winning the first set 6-4 after four comfortable holds of serve.
But Shelton was determined to fight back. Despite facing a 0-40 deficit in the seventh game of the second set on his serve, the American kept on firing aces, and he created a few break point chances for himself in the tenth game, which was a crucial game as Musetti didn't have a chance to break back, as those break points were also set points.
Shelton used his second chance, breaking the opponent's serve and winning the second set 6-4 to take the match into a decider. The crowd at the Queen's Club couldn't have asked for more, but Shelton, who believes he could do some damage on the grass courts, wasn't able to follow up on the second-set success.
Musetti proved to be the better player, beating the 20-year-old American 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 after two hours and 13 minutes and securing back-to-back quarterfinals on the grass court, surface where he was without a win before this season started.
Up next, the Italian will likely face another youngster as the second-seeded 20-year-old Holger Rune will take on home hope Ryan Peniston.
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