ATP Tour

Shelton kickstarts Roland Garros quest, Ruud survives in 5

Ben Shelton may not have enjoyed ideal preparation heading into his Roland Garros campaign, but the American No. 1 made an impressive start on Monday in Paris.

The No. 5 player in the PIF ATP Rankings produced a polished display to defeat rising Spaniard Daniel Merida 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the clay-court major. Shelton arrived in Paris with a 1-3 record on clay since capturing the Munich title last month, but hit 35 winners against Merida to launch his campaign in convincing fashion.

“I think I’m learning more and more every year,” Shelton said when asked about his clay-court game. “This is my favourite clay-court tournament and to be able to be at a Grand Slam playing on a big court like this is a privilege. The French crowd always knows how to bring energy, and that’s part of the reason I play so well here.”

Shelton reached the fourth round at Roland Garros last year before falling to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, and he will be aiming for another deep run in 2026. Up next for the American is Belgium’s Raphael Collignon, who defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4).

The 21-year-old Merida entered his main-draw debut at a major at a career-high World No. 86 following a breakthrough run to his first ATP Tour final in Bucharest last month, but he struggled to handle Shelton’s power. The American’s trademark serve proved decisive throughout the one-hour, 40-minute contest, with the fifth seed winning 86 per cent (50/58) of points behind his first serve.

While Shelton enjoyed a relatively smooth start to his campaign, it was a far more demanding opening test for Casper Ruud, who battled past Roman Safiullin 6-2, 7-6(5), 5-7, 0-6, 6-2 on Monday evening after three hours and 56 minutes. The Norwegian squandered five match points in the third set before beginning to struggle physically in the Paris heat.

Yet just as Safiullin looked poised to seize control and pull off a first-round upset, Ruud dug deep through his difficulties and found another level in the deciding set.

“I was close to being on the way home,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “In the end of the third and fourth sets, I felt quite horrible and dizzy. It was really hard to see the ball. Luckily I was able to give myself some time to breathe in the fourth set, to see if I could calm down and let the high temperature ease off. It was a really tough match.”

Ruud, a back-to-back Roland Garros finalist in 2022 and 2023, is making his ninth consecutive appearance at the clay-court major. The 27-year-old will next face Hamad Medjedovic, who defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4.