After winning the whole thing a year ago, former Florida tennis star [autotag]Ben Shelton[/autotag] ended his run at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo with a quarter-final loss to Frenchman Arthur Fils, 7-5, 6-7, 7-6.
Both Fils and Shelton dealt with cramping during the match. Shelton reached for his right hamstring several times. Fils broke Shelton in the third set, but the young American returned the favor in the next game. Knotted at four games a piece in the final set, it became a race to a deciding tiebreak.
Fils upset the reigning tournament champion with a comfortable 7-2 tiebreak finish. He handled Shelton’s powerful, left-handed serve for most of the match. Still, Shelton aced eight times in the third set to force the tiebreak.
In the first round, Shelton beat fellow American Reilly Opelka in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, and he took down Argentinian Mariano Navone in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, in the second round.
Ben Shelton moves up ATP Rankings
When the rankings are updated on Monday, Shelton will add 90 points to his total. He will move into the No. 15 spot, passing fellow Americans Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda. Tiafoe was eliminated in the first round.
However, because the Japanese tournament was played at the end of September rather than last year’s mid-October scheduling, Shelton will eventually lose the 500 points he earned for winning it all in 2023.
Shelton could participate in one of seven ATP events in October to avoid dropping significantly. It’s unlikely he participates in an ATP 250 event, which leaves two 1,000s and two 500s to pick from.
The Rolex Shanghai Masters (1,000) is just five days away and a three-hour flight from Tokyo. The Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria, and the Swiss Indoors Basel are both 500-level events scheduled around the same time as Shelton is set to drop those 500 points.
Finally, the Rolex Paris Masters (1,000) is at the end of the month and carries on into November. Shelton played in Vienna and Paris last year.
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