Ben Shelton wins against Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5) 7-6(4) in the 3rd round in Washington on Thursday in what was an all-American encounter. Shelton will try to go further in the tournament when playing against Denis Shapovalov in the quarter. The match lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. This will be his most significant achievement in this competition. In the past, the best he could do was reaching the 2nd round in 2023. Here you can see his history at this event.
Ben added to his prize money $ 25,185 after conquering this match. He has already won $ 53,240 after this win. If he wins the next match, Shelton will add $ 48,735 to his earnings to get in total $ 101,975 in total.
Highlights Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima Citi Open – Washington
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
Ben won this match even if he scored the same amount of points of Nakashima (80 vs. 80).
Shelton
Ben served very well to win 81% of the points (50/62) behind his first serve, and he won 50% points (14/28) on his second serve. Ben blasted 14 aces and he committed 4 double faults. Shelton was remarkable in converting the only break point that he conquered.
Nakashima
On the other side, Nakashima had a tough time converting his break points (only 20% – 1/5). That was one of the key issues for his defeat.
After this match, the head to head between Shelton and Nakashima is 2-0 for Ben.
Draw and next match H2H: Ben Shelton vs. Denis Shapovalov – stats
Shelton will play Shapovalov in the quarter.
This will be the 2nd time that Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov square off. The head to head is 1-0 for Shelton (see full H2H stats), but they have never played each other on hard.
The last time that they locked horns, Shelton won 6-74 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the 3rd round in Wimbledon back in July 2024.
Live score progression and stats
Shelton won the set after he broke Brandon in the 8th (5-3) game. Brandon tried to stage a comeback breaking in the 9th (5-4) game. However, Ben kept the situation under control to conquer the set 7-6.
Ben failed to serve out the set when leading 5-3 to be broken at 40.
Shelton was clinical in converting the only break point that he conquered in the 8th game (4-3 30-40). On the other side, Brandon converted 20% of his break points (1/5). He had his opportunities in the 9th game (3-5 40-A, 40-A, 40-A, 40-A and 40-A).
They contested 91 points. It’s worth to point out that, Ben won this set even if he scored less points 5 than Nakashima (43-48). Shelton lost 16 points on serve (29-16). On the other side, Brandon conceded 14 points on serve (32-14).
Both players were too good on serve during this set and the fight went to the breaker. Finally, Ben won the tiebreak at 7-4.
Tiebreak
Shelton won 2 minibreaks in the 1st (1-0) and 11th (7-4) point.
Shelton won the tiebreak 7-4 after he conquered a decisive 3-1 lead.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 6-4, 7-4
Neither player conceded a single break point during this set. Also, on the other side, Shelton didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They contested 69 points. The set was a huge battle since finally Ben won just 3 more points than Brandon (36-33). Ben conceded 9 points on serve (30-9). On the losing side, Nakashima conceded 6 points on serve (24-6).
Tennis Scores in Washington
- Flavio CobolliCobolli – Alejandro Davidovich FokinaDavidovich Fokina (1-6 7-60 7-67)
- Andrey RublevRublev – Arthur RinderknechRinderknech (7-64 6-4)
- Sebastian KordaKorda – Thanasi KokkinakisKokkinakis (6-71 7-5 3-2 ret.)
- Denis ShapovalovShapovalov – Miomir KecmanovicKecmanovic (4-6 6-4 6-2)
- Alex MichelsenMichelsen – Seong Chan HongChan Hong (6-3 6-3)
- Ben SheltonShelton – Brandon NakashimaNakashima (7-65 7-64)
- Frances TiafoeTiafoe – Aleksandar KovacevicKovacevic (7-63 4-6 6-3)
- Jordan ThompsonThompson – Giovanni Mpetshi PerricardMpetshi Perricard (7-5 6-4)
Upcoming matches
- Andrey RublevRublev – Frances TiafoeTiafoe (1-2) – H2H details and stats
- Denis ShapovalovShapovalov – (0-1) – H2H details and stats
- Sebastian KordaKorda – Jordan ThompsonThompson (0-0) – H2H details and stats
- Flavio CobolliCobolli – (0-0) – H2H details and stats