Ben Shelton had high hopes ahead of the 2023 Citi Open, but the American rising star was shocked in the first round by Juncheng Shang.
Ben Shelton initially didn't plan on playing in Washington, but he accepted a very late wild card to play at the ATP 500 event. The American will have bright lights during this part of the year, as many expect a super strong showing from him. This one was a challenging match, too challenging ultimately, as the American lost to the Chinese player.
The opening set was a very impressive one from Shang, who has had these moments of brilliance in the past. Shelton greatly helped by being all over the place both on serve and on return. On return, Shelton barely created any pressure winning a couple of points in total. On serve, the American gave too many chances to Shang, who converted both break points.
The second set saw Shelton respond in fantastic fashion as the American started to hit much better. While his play was far from stable he did manage to create far more pressure with his return and that proved crucial. He broke Shang three times while getting broken twice on his own serve but 3>2. The final set opened well for both.
Both dominated on the serve giving very little away in the first set games however as time went on Shang started to find cracks in the armour. A few solid games from the Chinese player put Shelton under a lot of pressure and the American bent down 4-3 in the final set.
Shang broke his opponent taking a 5-3 lead and after that, it was a rather comfortable final service game that sealed the huge win. The final score was 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; a very impressive win from Jerry Shang. Shelton's struggles continue as he's 2-11 in his last 13 ATP matches.
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