Ben Shelton supera in Etcheverry in his debut in Basilea | ATP Tour

Basel

Shelton beats Etcheverry in Basel debut

Tabilo, Jarry and Cerúndolo also play this Tuesday

October 22, 2024

Ben Shelton, who fell out of the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings this week for the first time since September of last year (No. 23), wants to be part of this group again as soon as possible and this Tuesday he took an important step to achieve it in the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The American moved to No. 20 in the PIF Live ATP Rankings, after defeating Tomás Martín Etcheverry in his debut in the first round in Basel 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 13 minutes.

It was the third time that Shelton and Etcheverry met on the court – all the matches have been this season – with the most recent memory being the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. As in previous matches, the balance tipped in favor of the American who dominates the Lexus ATP Head2Head 3-0.

The Argentine, who arrived at the event with his best record of victories in a single season (30, the same as in 2023), could not continue forward despite his better efficiency with the points at stake with the first serve (88 %) than Shelton (84%).

In the second round, the 22-year-old American will meet the winner of the duel that this Wednesday will face the local guest Stan Wawrinka and the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

Another Swiss, in this case, Dominic Stricker opened his participation in this edition of Basel with a solid performance against Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 6-4 in 66 minutes.

Last year he had become the youngest local player to reach the quarterfinals in the history of the tournament, since Federer did so in 2001. To repeat the same mark, he will have to beat the winner of the match between the seeded No. 4 Holger Rune and the Chilean Nicolás Jarry.

For his part, Denis Shapovalov, who is playing this ATP 500 thanks to an invitation, resolved with authority his debut in the first round against #NextGenATP Juncheng Shang by 6-1, 6-4 in 68 minutes. The Canadian will now face the No. 2 favorite Casper Ruud or the recent champion of the European Open in Antwerp, Roberto Bautista Agut.