Ben Shelton And Holger Rune Both Suffer Shocking Losses To Spanish Players
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Ben Shelton and Holger Rune both ended their weeks with a shocking loss to a Spanish player. The American lost at the Dallas Open, while the Dane lost in Rotterdam.
Rune took to the court first. He took on Pedro Martinez in the second round of the 2025 Rotterdam Open. Carlos Alcaraz already awaited in the quarter-finals, so the Dane was likely motivated to face his young rival.
Martinez was, of course, motivated to win the match as well. After beating compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round, the Spaniard eyed another all-Spanish match in Rotterdam.
And he did well to set it up. Martinez broke first in this match, even though he immediately lost the one-break advantage. Both players then served well, and fans in Rotterdam were getting ready for a tie-break.
But Martinez then worked his way to a break point when Rune was serving to stay in the set, and the Spanish player converted it to win the first set 6-4.
The Spaniard then continued playing well also in the second set. He broke first again, and at 4-1, it seemed that he completely controlled the match.
That was true as Martinez was able to break Rune's serve one more time. Thanks to that, he won the match easily 6-4, 6-1, to set up a quarter-final meeting with Alcaraz.
Only a few minutes after Rune's match started in Rotterdam, Ben Shelton started his match in Dallas. He, too, took on a Spanish player. After beating Aleksandar Vukic in the first round of the ATP 500 event, the American played against Jaume Munar.
But, like Rune, he didn't have a good start. Shelton was immediately broken, and he couldn't do anything to break back. Munar was able to break again and win the first set of the match 6-2.
The Spanish player was surprisingly dominant in the first set, but that changed in the second. Both players held their serve easily, but that was only until 4-4.
In that game, Munar felt the pressure, and Shelton delighted the home crowd by getting two break points. However, he wasn't able to convert his chances, and that proved to be costly.
The second set was decided in a tie-break. Munar, again, was the better player, and like his compatriot in Rotterdam, he won the match in two sets. In his case, it was a 6-2, 7-6(3) win.
The Spanish player will play against the eighth-seeded Matteo Arnaldi in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
