Ben Shelton has gone crashing out of the Shanghai Masters after losing to Arthur Gea in the third round.
Shelton was the third seed at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in China, where he started by beating Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 7-6(8-6). But the American failed to continue that momentum into his second match, where he was beaten 6-7(5-7), 6-7(3-7).
The ATP number four has since reacted to his shock exit at the Shanghai Masters, where Frenchman Gea was playing his first-ever match against a top 10 opponent. He has now drawn praise from Shelton, who has also suggested he has a regret after exiting the event in China.
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Ben Shelton wanted to arrive earlier for Shanghai Masters
Discussing whether only playing the Davis Cup since the US Open had impacted his result, Shelton told the media: “Yeah, I mean, I got outplayed today. The guy played better than me. A hundred percent, I would have liked to have come over here earlier and be prepared and have already dealt with the jet lag by the time I was playing here in the Shanghai Masters. My body wasn’t ready. I wasn’t physically ready to play in Tokyo. That’s just the way this tour is sometimes.”
The American also shared his targets for the rest of 2026, saying: “I want to finish on a high note in Turin. Obviously I want to be prepared, playing some of my best tennis when I get there. Three tournaments left to finish the year, which has been a very up-and-down year, but a great year, on a high note.”
Ben Shelton predicts Arthur Gea to do ‘very well’ on the ATP Tour
Shelton is understandably already turning one eye to the ATP Finals, which return to the calendar this time next month. He is ranked fourth in the Race to Turin. But there is still plenty to play for between now and then, and the American will have learned a valuable lesson in his latest loss.
Discussing his latest opponent, he said: “I thought he handled my serve outstanding. I thought he did a great job on return today start to finish. He put it a lot in play. He was putting them deep to the baseline. It was tough to attack. There was hardly any, as the match went on, points where I was getting easy free points or first balls to attack and come to the net on, so a lot of credit to him.”
And when asked if he was surprised by the Frenchman’s style, in which he came to the net a lot, Shelton said after their first career meeting: “No, no, I have watched some of him playing. He’s a very talented player. I thought he played an outstanding, complete match today. He’s got a huge forehand and big game and, yeah, I think that he’ll do very well on the tour.”
It’s certainly high praise from Shelton, who also played doubles at the tournament, but lost his opener alongside Alexander Bublik. Gea has also beaten Jaime Faria and Ugo Humbert in Shanghai, and now meets the winner of Francisco Cerundolo and Jakub Mensik. The 21-year-old is currently ranked 56th in the world, his career-high rank, and claimed his maiden ATP title earlier this year at Los Cabos.
