Ben Shelton beats Aslan Karatsev in straight sets to claim maiden ATP Tour title at Japan Open in Tokyo
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Updated 22/10/2023 at 11:19 GMT
Ben Shelton's debut season in the ATP continues to go from strength to strength as the young American claimed his first career title win on Sunday with a straight sets victory over Aslan Karatsev in the Japan Open in Tokyo. The 7-5 6-1 win caps an excellent autumn for the Georgian, who also reached a career-best Masters 1000 quarter-final in Shanghai in September.
Shelton captures first ATP Tour title with win over Karatsev
Ben Shelton claimed his first career ATP title on Sunday with a 7-5 6-1 win over Russian Aslan Karatsev in the Japan Open final in Tokyo.
Karatsev had not dropped a set en route to the final, beating local wild card Shintaro Mochizuki in the semi-final after seeing off Australia's Alex de Minaur in the quarter-final and China's Zhang Zhizhen in the previous round.
By contrast, Shelton recovered from a set down and battled through a tough tiebreaker in the semi-final against fellow American Marcos Giron. Another countryman was his vanquished quarter-final opponent, Tommy Paul, while Australian Jordan Thompson also took Shelton to three sets in second round. Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel did likewise in the first round.
In the final, Karatsev started strongly and nearly got the early break but Shelton resisted and the pair swapped service games until the 11th game of the set. There, Shelton pulled off the vital break before serving out the set.
Each had faced a single break point in the match so far and their success on those two points proved significant.
The second set seemed to be following the same pattern, with Karatsev seeing off a break point in the third game but this time Shelton hung in there and took the early break.
At 2-1 up, Shelton held to love before rallying from 40-0 down in Karatsev's next service game to break him again.
Leading 4-1, Shelton repeated the trick by serving to love once again and Karatsev was suddenly serving to stay alive.
The Russian swiftly found himself double match point down and, while he saved one, Karatsev couldn't stem the tide.
In what seems to be something of a sea change season for the ATP, Shelton becomes the sixth different first-time title winner with his victory in Japan.
Victory will move Shelton to a career-high No. 15 in the ATP rankings.
Speaking after the match, Shelton was delighted and spoke with a maturity that belied his relatively tender years.
He said: "That meant a lot to me and my team. We have been working really hard since the beginning to build my game and win titles on the ATP Tour.
"I made some deep runs lately. You see the great champions, they finish weeks off. They win titles, they don't just get to finals. They are able to maintain their level throughout the week.
"I am not saying I am anywhere there yet, but to be able to do it for one week, put together five matches in a row in Tokyo is really special."
Shelton was already looking ahead to his next challenge.
He said: "I am really looking forward to this tail-end stretch of the year. I think it is a great opportunity for me. Earlier in the season I was losing early in weeks, so my match count is not that high, so I am feeling fresh.
"I am looking forward to finishing the season strong."
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