Shelton Falls in Five-Set Thriller
Ben Shelton, the No. 4 seed, suffered a first-round exit at Wimbledon on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9) to Otto Virtanen of Finland. Virtanen, ranked 140th in the world, was appearing in just his second Wimbledon. Shelton, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year and winner of the Stuttgart grass-court title in June, led two sets to one and had a match point at 9-8 in the final tie-break but hit a forehand into the net.
“Tough loss,” Shelton said. “One of the toughest losses I’ve taken, for sure. I got to give a lot of credit to the guy I played, Otto. I thought he played an outstanding match.”
Fritz Cruises in Straight Sets
Taylor Fritz, the No. 6 seed, had no such trouble, easing past Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in just one hour and 41 minutes. Fritz, the only American man to have reached a grand slam final (2024 US Open) and a semi-finalist here last year, wore a bespoke all-white Boss suit onto court. He admitted he was unsure about the outfit but thought he “looked all right”.
“I feel like it was an uphill battle all day today. I was pretty off on my serve spot, so I wasn’t getting many free points. I was having to grind through a lot of the games,” Fritz said. He added, “You show up in a full outfit and get snipped in the first round, you look really stupid, honestly.”
Other Results
The fifth seed Alex de Minaur defeated Román Andrés Burruchaga 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-0. Burruchaga is the son of Jorge Burruchaga, who scored the winning goal for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup final. De Minaur said, “I think the way I played that first set, I need to be a lot more relaxed and not get as frustrated when maybe I’m not playing my best level.”
Queen’s Club champion Francisco Cerúndolo was knocked out in three sets by Jaume Munar.
