It wasn’t supposed to go this way for two of the seeded Americans in Dallas, but tennis is a tricky game.
Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe the No.4 and No.5 seeds at the Dallas Open, were both sent packing in round of 16 action on Thursday, as their opponents seized the moment and played better in the big moments to book quarterfinal slots at the ATP 500 event.
Yoshihito Nishioka rallied to defeat 18th-ranked Tiafoe, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, as the Japanese talent snapped a 16-match losing streak against Top-20 players. That’s two victories in a row against Tiafoe for the southpaw Nishioka, who will face Casper Ruud or Michael Mmoh in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Ben Shelton, seeded fourth, was also upset. The 13th-ranked American was defeated soundly by Spain’s Jaume Munar, 6-2, 7-6(3), as the 27-year-old put on a shotmaking clinic and benefitted from an uncharacteristically loose performance from Shelton.
The hard-serving American was broken twice in the opening set and he only won 39 of 61 service points overall. Shelton, who hit 15 winners against 26 unforced errors, tried to right the ship in the second set but he was outplayed by 64th-ranked Munar in the second-set tiebreak.
A semifininalist at the Australian Open two weeks ago, Shelton drops to 6-3 on the season.
Munar moves on to an all-Spanish clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who clipped the wings of 8th-seeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Thursday, in the quarterfinals
Americans at Night
The stars and stripes still have plenty to be excited about in Dallas. Defending champion Tommy Paul (vs. Ethan Quinn) and top-seeded Taylor Fritz (vs. Denis Shapovalov) will be in action during the Thursday night session.