Ben Shelton's 2024 Mallorca Championships experience is over as he lost to Paul Jubb in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament.
Jubb is a British player who isn't the youngest, but he's been slowly rising through the ranks. He's been particularly impressive on grass this year, and this week, he beat players comfortably left and right.
He certainly stunned Shelton in this match, and it happened quite early. The American hasn't had the best grass season so far, but that's in line with his struggles on the low-bouncing surface.
It's a surface where he could dominate one day, but his lack of experience is quite obvious, and it hurts him in many matches. He started this match very shaky, falling behind 0-4 before finally pulling back one break.
He kept applying pressure, but Jubb held onto his break quite comfortably. Shelton was just a bit too aggressive in that opening set, failing to find the court comfortably. Jubb did well to withstand all the pressure and was super strong in crucial rallies, winning the opening set 6-3.
That continued in the second set, as well, as the Brit took an early break. Still, Shelton somehow proved amazing by turning around the second set. He was down 1-3 and 30-40, with Jubb having a chance to seal it, but he didn't, and the American won five games in a row to win the second set 6-3.
The final set was extremely competitive, as both players, especially Jubb, had chances, but it ended in a tie-break. It was fitting because the match was very tense, and what better way to end it?
The tie-break was very close, and overall, including the 12th game, Jubb had 7 match points. Shelton saved six of those, but he missed a forehand on the last one, losing the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(8).
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