Shelton defeated by Mensik in Auckland

The Auckland tournament prematurely loses its number 1 seed. For his first tournament of the season, Ben Shelton had decided to prepare for the Australian Open in New Zealand.

The draw gave him a tricky match against 19-year-old Jakub Mensik, who played in the Next Gen ATP Finals at the end of December.

In a match that was tightly contested and indecisive right to the end, the Czech was mentally tough enough to complete the match in almost 2 hours 40 minutes (7-6, 4-6, 7-5).

Alternating good and bad on serve (10 aces, 7 double faults), Mensik converted his sixth match point, on the American's serve, to validate his ticket for the rest of the competition.

Having lost their first meeting at Indian Wells last year, the Czech player has now exacted his revenge and qualified for the quarter-finals, where he will meet Nuno Borges.

Thursday's other matches will pit Carballes Baena against Bergs, Monfils against Diaz Acosta and Michelsen against Basavareddy.