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Ben Shelton registered his maiden tour-level win on clay on Tuesday, beating Frenchman Constant Lestienne 7-5, 7-5 in the Round of 32 of the Estoril Open. This is Shelton's first ever trip to Europe. Earlier this year, he left the United States for the first time in his life for the Australian hard-court swing.
The American captured a lot of global attention with a run to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Now that he is in Europe for the first time ever, Shelton will want to make the most of his trip to Portugal for the Estoril Open.
Speaking after his first win on clay, Shelton expressed his admiration for Estoril.
"It's a beautiful city. This is the first city that I've been in in Europe and so far it's definitely my favorite," Ben Shelton said in his post-match interview.
Shelton, who is seeded 8th in Estoril, will face either former French Open finalist Dominic Thiem or Sebastian Ofner in the Round of 16. He could then face fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals.
20-year-old Shelton had a rather disappointing Sunshine Double campaign, losing to American No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the second round at Indian Wells before bowing out of the opening round in Miami with a loss to Adrian Mannarino.
Ben Shelton can be successful on clay, believes leading tennis coach Brad Gilbert
Tennis coach and analyst Brad Gilbert, who coached Andre Agassi to six Grand Slam singles titles back in the day, believes Ben Shelton has the ingredients in his game to become successful on clay. Gilbert feels Shelton's big serve and swift movement on the court will come in handy when he plays on the red dirt.
Gilbert also highlighted that Shelton is among the current crop of American male players who are a lot more equipped in terms of their overall game.
"With that bomb of a serve and his excellent movement, Shelton could be very interesting on clay," Brad Gilbert said in a recent interviw.
"Too many of our guys were just a serve and forehand. Now a lot more of our guys are more athletic so they can do more things. The cool thing about the current players is that they all play differently. They’re not the same type of players, and that’s interesting to watch,” Gilbert added.
Shelton could also face top seed Casper Ruud in the semifinals of the Estoril Open.
