December 22, 2024
Ben Shelton overcame big-serving American Reilly Opelka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to get off to a good start in his attempt to win back the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships title on Thursday.
The 21-year-old American who won the his maiden tour-level trophy 12 months ago at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo, improved throughout against Opelka to reach the second round at this year’s event after one hour and 47 minutes.
“I have a lot of love for this tournament and this city,” Shelton said on his title defence. “I have a lot of confidence. Being here and knowing the situations I have come through in this exact stadium, in the most important moments.”
“I think it was a tough start. I felt like I was struggling a little bit and getting rhythm,” Shelton said. “I thought Reilly was serving and returning extremely well and that made things difficult. When you play someone like Reilly, who can take the racquet out of your hand, it is never going to be an easy match. I am happy with the way I competed. Breaking serve multiple times gives me a lot of confidence.”
Following a victory over the former Top 20 player en route to the Cincinnati quarterfinals earlier this year, Shelton currently leads Opelka 2-0 in their ATP head-to-head meeting. Mariano Navone of Argentina will be Shelton’s next adversary.
Tommy Paul, Shelton’s native countryman, also made progress in the Japan hard-court competition. With the victory, the fifth seed improved to 15-3 in 2024’s opening-round matches against Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-2. In the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, the 27-year-old will land in Tokyo on the eleventh spot, and he intends to go deep to increase his chances of making the Nitto ATP Finals.
Paul is now 520 points behind Alex de Minaur, who holds the final qualifying position, in seventh place. Because of an injury, De Minaur will not be competing this week.
Paul, who is chasing his third title of the season, will next play Tomas Machac after the Czech beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5.
In a match between all-Americans, Brandon Nakashima defeated Frances Tiafoe, the US Open semifinalist, 7-5, 6-3, extending his stellar play of late. Nakashima has already achieved seven Top 20 victories this year, five of which have come since August.
Nakashima, who just made it to the semifinals in Chengdu, will face Ugo Humbert in the second round after traveling to Tokyo.
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