Shelton wins a thrilling match: two match points saved against Majchrzak in Basel

Ben Shelton had to dig deep to secure a dramatic victory against Kamil Majchrzak.

Shelton won his first round at the ATP 500 tournament in Basel. A finalist last year, the American player, still in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals, was hoping to successfully navigate his opening match against Kamil Majchrzak, the world number 70 who came through the qualifying rounds.

After his wins against Pedro Martinez and Valentin Royer in the qualifiers, the Pole earned a marquee first-round match against the world number 6. This was the very first meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour.

In the first set, no breaks of serve occurred, so it was logical that the American and the Pole were decided by a tie-break. This was logically dominated by Majchrzak (7 points to 2). However, Shelton responded well in the second set with a break at the beginning and the end of the set to level the match.

The scenario of the third set was identical to that of the first. But, in the tie-break, Majchrzak earned two match points and led 6 points to 4. It was then that he missed a volley that seemed within his reach while he had a large part of the court open.

Shelton then leveled the score, winning the last four points to clinch the victory (6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in 2 hours and 43 minutes). Shelton advances to the round of 16 where he will face Jaume Munar.