Ben Shelton knocked out of ATP Atlanta as No. 1 seed

After a brilliant run to the Fourth Round at Wimbledon, Florida tennis alum Ben Shelton came up short in his first match at the ATP Tour event in Atlanta, Georgia.

Shelton fell to Chinese 19-year-old Juncheng Shang for the second straight year at his hometown event event. Last year’s matchup came in the Round of 32, but Shelton earned a bye to the Round of 16 as the No. 1 seed.

The extra rest didn’t do Shelton much good. He lost in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-4. Shang was gracious in victory and spoke highly of Shelton, who he is now 3-0 against.

“It was a really tough match,” Shang said. “The conditions are completely different from last year. The courts are much slower. But with this crowd, I really enjoy playing here. I don’t know what I did to play so well against Ben but he’s such an amazing guy, a lot of respect to him.”

Shang’s success against Shelton might be because both are lefties. He told Rough Draft Atlanta that he’s able to return lefties a lot better than righties, which is something Shelton doesn’t deal with often (or that well). It’s a hole in the young American’s game right now, but he’s always working to improve.

Up next for Shelton is the U.S. Open on Aug. 26 in New York City.

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