A hotly contested duel between the young uprising star Ben Shelton and the more seasoned home player Taro Daniel was played out under the dome of the Ariake Colosseum, in the first round of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships.

The two players are distinguished not only by their difference in ranking, Daniel with 97th position in the world and Shelton 19th, but also by their history in the sport. Daniel has been on the circuit since 2010 whereas Shelton is a relative newcomer having turned professional only last year at 20 years old.

Shelton has seen a meteoric rise in the last 15 months even though he has no career title to date. Daniel for his part has won 1 ATP Tour singles title in 2018 at the Istanbul Open (ATP 250), Having come through two qualifying matches Daniel had his second chance to play against Shelton having met once before in Wimbledon where it took 5 sets before Shelton won.

Despite their contrasting profiles, Daniel got the early break leading 4-1 in the opening set and yet another one for a 5-2 lead. Shelton resisted thanks to his powerful serve to hold at 3-5 but Daniel scores 2 aces in the final game to finish off the set 6-3 to the thrill of the local crowd. In the second set there was no break of serve in this tight encounter until Shelton was on serve at 5-4. The longest rally in the match at 30-30 saw Shelton pull ahead and then on a powerful return of serve seals the second set.

Daniel took the fight all the way to a third set tie break where he was finally overpowered by Shelton who finishing it off with his characteristic left hand power forehand down the line for a 7-2 lead for a final score of 3-6, 6-4, 7-6.

The match statistics underscore the closeness of the match where Shelton had a 67% first serve win rate and Daniel 59%. Shelton won 29% of first serve returns while Daniel had 27%. Second serve return points won also showed how competitive this match was with 44% for Shelton and 47% for Daniel. They both converted 2 break points, yet Shelton took home the win despite his 7 double faults versus 1 for Daniel. Both players enjoyed several aces with 5 and 6 respectively.

Commenting on the win, Shelton said I’m really excited to go through after the tough battle today, happy with how I’m playing. It took me a while to find my rhythm and adjust to the new environment here in Tokyo. The crowd were so respectful, cheering me for my good points even though my opponent was a local. I’m really looking forward to the next round”. Shelton goes on to play against Jordan Thompson in the second round.