Ben Shelton’s poor form continues after he suffered a shock loss at the Mallorca Open.
The American was aiming to build some momentum ahead of the Wimbledon Championships after losing his first match at Queen’s.
He entered the tournament on the Spanish island as the top seed and felt confident after beating Rinky Hijikata in the opening round.
But the 21-year-old came unstuck against British player Paul Jubb who claimed the biggest victory of his career so far.
Ben Shelton loses early at the Mallorca Open
After losing the first set Shelton rallied to take the second and even held a match point in the deciding set tiebreak.
Shelton was uncharacteristically poor on serve, conceding 18 break points against his fellow NCAA athlete.
After having six chances of his own to seal the win, at the seventh time of asking Jubb completed a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(8) victory to claim the first top 20 win of his career.
“It just kept getting better and better throughout the match. I was thriving out here tonight,” said Jubb, who is now up 201 in the live world rankings.
“Super, super happy. This is obviously huge for me. Last year was so tough, injured most of the year. I’ve been working very, very hard to get back to this point.”
Who will Ben Shelton play at Wimbledon?
Shelton will play at Wimbledon for just the second time next week and he will begin his campaign against Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci.
The 23-year-old defeated former World number seven David Goffin in the final round of qualifying to book his spot in the main draw.
He will be full of confidence against Shelton, who has just nine grass court matches under his belt and has won just three of them.
Shelton has the firepower and impressive serve to succeed on the grass, but his lack of experience on the surface may be his undoing at SW19 this year.
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