Shelton Saves Face For Americans, Moves Into Miami Open Third Round

Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton (photo: Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

MIAMI/WASHINGTON, March 25, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

After three of the Top Four American men – No. 1 Taylor Fritz, No. 2 Tommy Paul and No. 4 Frances Tiafoe – went down to defeat in the second round at the Miami Open on Saturday, it left No. 3 American Ben Shelton in the position of trying to right the U.S. fortunes as he played his opening round match at the Hard Rock Stadium complex on Sunday.

The 17th-ranked American from Florida, seeded 16th, faced 18-year-old wild card Martin Landaluce of Spain in their first meeting.

The 360th-ranked Landaluce earned his first ATP Tour win by defeating fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar in the first round, and against Shelton was in search of the biggest win of career. If successful, he would become the youngest player to reach the Miami third round since Rafael Nadal in 2004.

Shelton had other plans. The 6-foot-4, 21-year-old lefty with the blazing first serve delivered seven aces and hit 22 winners en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Landaluce in 75 minutes on the Grandstand to join fellow Americans, No. 28 seed Sebastian Korda, No. 31 seed Christopher Eubanks and wild card Martin Damm Jr. in the third round. (Damm Jr. lost Sunday night to No. 66 Christopher O’Connell of Australia, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5).)

Shelton delivered a powerful performance, in which he won 82 percent of his service points and boomed first serves that peaked at 148 miles-per-hour. He faced no break points and outpointed Landaluce 59-44 to improve to 11-6 in 2024. Shelton has now won six of his seven opening-round matches this season.

“I’m really happy to be here,” Shelton said during his on-court, post-match interview. “There was unbelievable crowd support out here for me today. It’s just really cool to be here. It has a special atmosphere here in Miami, especially at night, like when Chris Eubanks played here last night. Electric atmosphere, that’s what I live for on the tennis court, so just happy to be here and happy to be able to play another match here.”

Next for Shelton is No. 23 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who won his first match since becoming a father, a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 39 Roman Safiullin of Russia.

Marozsan slays Rune for third Top-10 win

Call Fabian Marozsan a giant slayer. After all, the No. 57 Marozsan of Hungary has compiled an impressive 3-1 win-loss record against Top-10 players after defeating World No. 7 and sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, 6-1, 6-1, in only 59 minutes on Stadium Court. The 24-year-old Hungarian hit 23 winners outpointed Rune 58-33.

“It is a great feeling to play at the highest level,” Marozsan said in his on-court interview. “I tried to play my best tennis today against a Top 10 player. I am enjoying my time here.”

In the last 10 months, Marozsan has garnered wins over Carlos Alcaraz (Rome) Casper Ruud (Shanghai) and Rune (Miami), all at Masters 1000 events.

Next, Marozsan will play No. 45 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, who defeated No. 26 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4.

Sinner overcomes rain delay, Griekspoor to advance

Second seed Jannik Sinner overcame a short rain delay and rallied against No. 26 Fallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands to win his third-round match 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, in two hours and 23 minutes on Stadium Court. Griekspoor was ahead 7-5, 3-3 when rain interrupted play. Upon return, Sinner won 10 of 13 games to stifle any thoughts of an upset against the World No. 3 from Italy.

Sinner hit 15 aces, won 90 percent of his first-serve points, struck 36 winners and outpointed Griekspoor 106-81.

Sinner remained undefeated against Griekspoor (4-0) and improved his 2024 win-loss record to 18-1, with No. 66 Christopher O’Connell of Australia waiting in the fourth round on Tuesday.

“I think even the first set was really close, but it went away,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I think mentally I tried to stay strong, which I did, and I was in a tough situation today. After the rain came, I tried to come back a bit more aggressive, which I did, and obviously I’m really happy. It’s been a tough day for me, but very happy about the result.”

A heartbreak loss for Murray to Machac

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray of Great Britain, in what might have been his final Miami Open appearance, rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the final set against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac and saved a match point at 5-6 before losing 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5), decided in a decisive tie-break, in which the young Czech denied the Briton another epic comeback.

“It’s always a pleasure to share the court with such a great legend,” Machac said in on-court interview after Murray left Butch Buchholz Court to a standing ovation following the three-hour, 28-minute dramatic thriller, in which the Briton struck 15 aces. “So first of all, I’m happy that I can play this long match against him. But on the opposite, I don’t want to play so long. But at the end, there was everything. … I pushed myself from the bottom to manage to win today.”

Next, Machac will play Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, who defeated Denis Shapovalov of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Around the Miami Open

No. 3 seed and defending Miami Open champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia continued his title defense with 7-5, 6-1 second-round victory over No. 30 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in an hour and 21 minutes. Medvedev won eight of the last nine games.

“I generally think that the serve was not too bad. The first serve was quite good,” said Medvedev, who recovered from being down by a double break 0-3 in the first set. “Cameron is someone who returns well, so I felt like I was still there. The positive side is that when he came back in the first set, he had the momentum going, I managed to regroup myself and win it 7-5 without even going to the tie-break.

“In general, even when you lose your serve, when you break the guy six times in two sets it’s very positive.”

Next, Medvedev will play No. 50 Dominik Koepfer of Germany, who pulled off an upset of No. 14 seed Ugo Humbert of France, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

No. 7 seed Casper Ruud of Norway recorded his 100th career hard-court victory with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 27 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, in an hour and 36 minutes. He saved all seven break points he faced and outpointed his opponent 68-63.

Half of Ruud’s wins on hard courts have come in Grand Slam, ATP Finals and Masters 1000 competitions.

Next, he will face No. 22 seed Nicolas Jarry of Chile, who fought off a nearly-three hour challenge from 76th-ranked challenger Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-3.

No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated 863rd-ranked Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea, who entered Miami with a protected ranking following recovery from shoulder surgery, 6-3, 6-2, in 77 minutes, for his 18th win of the season – most on the ATP Tour.

De Minaur’s serve was not broken and he outpointed Kwon 65-44. Next, de Minaur will play No. 24 seed Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat No. 54 Daniel Altmaier, 6-3, 6-3, in an all-German second-round match.

No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria rallied from a set down to beat No. 44 Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2, in two hours and 26 minutes. The 12th-ranked Dimitrov fired 23 aces, was not broken in three tries, converted two of nine break points and outpointed Tabilo, 109-101. Next, Dimitrov will face No. 56 Yannick Hanfmann, who upset No.19 seed Adrian Mannarino of France, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Late Saturday

France’s Gaël Monfils, ranked 47th, defeated No. 34 Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2 for his 550th career win, becoming just the second Frenchman in the Open Era after Richard Gasquet to reach that plateau.

Other late Saturday winners:

No. 15 Karen Khachanov of Russia beat No. 35 Laslo Djere of Serbia, 6-2, 6-4. No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina defeated No. 40 Sebastian Ofner of Austria, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-1. No. 30 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain beat No. 63 Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2. No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy defeated No. 17 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-1.

Sunday’s Miami Open results

Monday’s Miami Open order of play

By the numbers

Before losing to Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild on Saturday, American No. 1 Taylor Fritz was 10-0 in opening-round matches played in the United States since the start of the 2023 season. He had. It lost before the fourth round in the last three Miami Open tournaments, reaching the fourth round in 2021-22 and quarterfinals last year.

“Quotable …”

“Today, this morning, you come and you know it’s going to be tough to play. But anyway, you have to be here, you have to be ready, you have to make yourself ready. …

“Playing cards with the coaches, having some chats with other players, other people. Sitting in the locker room. Watching some other sports on TV. It’s basically just sitting, relaxing, taking a little nap, listening to some music here and there. Trying to waste some time, like yesterday.”

— Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands on how he spent his rain-delay downtime on Friday and Saturday, as told to ATPTour.com.

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