Ben Shelton overcame fellow American Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-3 in his tournament debut at the Dallas Open on Wednesday to get to the quarterfinals.
With the win, Ben Shelton advanced to his sixth quarterfinal of the Dallas Open on the circuit and second at home, following his historic run to the US Open quarterfinals in 2023.
The third seed Shelton dropped only three points on serve in his first encounter since falling to Adrian Mannarino in the Australian Open’s third round. He hammered 23 wins in a 63-minute victory.
“I was pretty surprised with the level I played at today,” Shelton said after his first match in nearly three full weeks. “I felt comfortable out on the court playing and moving, I thought I played a really good match.”
Ben Shelton is now 13-1 against opponents outside the top 50 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings since the beginning of August, defeating Mmoh in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head.
In the quarterfinals, the American will face either lucky loser Denis Kudla or seventh-seeded Jordan Thompson.
Meanwhile, Australian James Duckworth defeated Christopher Eubanks 7-6(3), 6-4, causing an early upset. Duckworth’s meeting with the fifth seed did not provide a breaking point. In order to advance to the quarterfinals, American Marcos Giron beat the sixth seed, Max Purcell.
Tommy Paul finished the day’s play by defeating Taro Daniel of Japan 6-3, 6-2. The second-seeded American saved all four break points against him and converted on three of his 14 opportunities.
Since Wimbledon, Paul has gone 13-1 in his matches; his lone loss came in Beijing against Daniil Medvedev. Rinky Hijikata or eighth-seeded Dominik Koepfer will be his opponent in the quarterfinals.
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