Ben Shelton suffers upset at Madrid Open
Masters 1000 events have not been kind to Ben Shelton this year. The former Gators lost in his first match at the Madrid Open over the weekend.
Coming off a championship at the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, Ben Shelton suffered another early exit at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Friday. World No. 87 Dino Prizmic, who had to play through qualifiers to make the 128-man draw, defeated Shelton, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) over three hours of action.
Shelton played well, delivering 44 winners, 10 aces and winning 56% of his second-serve points. He also won 43% of his second-serve return points. Unforced errors (44), including one on the final point of the game, cost him the win.
"It means a lot," Prizmic said. "Today was a very hard match for me, and I just tried to play my game, stay focused every point, and it definitely worked today. I'm working a lot with my team to stay calm on the important points, but (Shelton) is No.
6 in the world. ... I was waiting for my chances, and I took them in the end.