Ben Shelton’s breakthrough season hit new heights on Sunday on the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, the place he defeated Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1 to win his first ATP Tour title.
The American rallied from a set and 2-5 down to return by his semi-final match in opposition to Marcos Giron and he used that momentum within the closing in Tokyo, the place he persistently took the ball early on return to hurry Karatsev, triumphing after 84 minutes.
“That meant loads to me and my crew,” Shelton mentioned. “Now we have been working actually onerous for the reason that starting to construct my sport and win titles on the ATP Tour. I made some deep runs currently. You see the nice champions, they end weeks off. They win titles, they do not simply get to finals. They’re able to preserve their stage all through the week. I’m not saying I’m anyplace there but, however to have the ability to do it for one week, put collectively 5 matches in a row in Tokyo is basically particular.”
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The American is the sixth first-time tour-level winner of the season and the primary participant since Lorenzo Musetti in Hamburg in 2022 to win their maiden ATP Tour title at a 500 occasion. He’ll rise to a career-high No. 15 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, having began the season at No. 96.
“I’m actually wanting ahead to this tail-end stretch of the 12 months,” mentioned Shelton, who’s third within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Race To Jeddah. “I believe it’s a nice alternative for me. Earlier within the season I used to be dropping early in weeks, so my match depend isn’t that top, so I’m feeling contemporary. I’m wanting ahead to ending the season sturdy.”
Shelton performed with freedom in opposition to Karatsev in his maiden tour-level title match. The 21-year-old struck 18 winners and brought on Karatsev issues along with his swinging lefty serve, profitable 80 per cent (32/40) of factors behind his first supply.
He now leads Karatsev 2-0 within the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head collection, whereas he’s the second consecutive American to triumph in Tokyo after Taylor Fritz received the crown in 2022.
Earlier this season, Shelton superior to the quarter-finals on the Australian Open, earlier than he reached the semi-finals on the US Open, changing into the youngest American man to advance to the final 4 in New York since Michael Chang in 1992. He now owns a standout 14-2 document in his previous 16 matches, having additionally reached the quarter-finals in Shanghai final week.
Karatsev was chasing his fourth tour-level title and first since he beat Andy Murray in Sydney in 2022. The 30-year-old used his forehand to nice impact within the first set, however struggled to search out consistency from the baseline because the match went on, committing 20 unforced errors.
Did You Know?
Shelton is the youngest Tokyo champion since Lleyton Hewitt, 20, in 2001. He joins father Bryan Shelton as an ATP Tour titlist, changing into the fourth father-son duo to win tour-level singles titles within the Open Period (since 1968).
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