ATP Tour

Tien sets Shelton showdown after winning #NextGenATP clash in Mallorca

In the youngest ATP Tour match of the season — and third youngest this decade — 19-year-old Learner Tien ousted 17-year-old Justin Engel on Monday at the Mallorca Championships presented by ecotrans Group.

Tien earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory against the German Engel, a wild card in Mallorca who reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals two weeks ago.

The lefty Tien saved all five of the break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in warm conditions at the grass ATP 250. Meanwhile, Tien’s lone break of serve in each set — despite winning just three first-serve return points — was enough to help him advance to the second round.

“I broke early in the first set and I served really well today, I think that was the biggest thing,” Tien said. “My serve kind of took me through the match. I capitalised on my break points and just tried to stay in as many return games as I could.”

Currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Tien will next face countryman and top seed Ben Shelton. It will mark their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Earlier, Corentin Moutet overcame Pedro Martinez 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 to reach the second round. The Frenchman is a former quarter-finalist in Mallorca and defeated Taylor Fritz at The Queen’s Club last week. He will next meet Daniel Altmaier.

Gabriel Diallo, seeded at an ATP Tour event for the first time, downed Jaume Munar 7-5, 6-3. The sixth-seeded Canadian won his first ATP Tour title on grass eight days ago in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Diallo meets Laslo Djere in the second round.

Former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Hamad Medjedovic defeated Nishesh Basavareddy 6-0, 6-4, while Roman Safiullin downed Alexandre Muller 7-6(5), 7-5 to improve to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Arthur Rinderknech beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

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