When Ben Shelton came to the pro tennis scene in 2023, it was his hard-hitting serve that caught the eyes of the tennis world, and in his third-round match of the 2025 French Open, his serve proved lethal again.
While clay courts are known to be less advantageous to hard-hitting players, as the clay slows down the ball more than other court surfaces, The UF product proved otherwise with his straight-sets victory.
The 22-year-old from Atlanta started and ended the first set by holding his opponent, Matteo Gigante of Italy. In the second set, Shelton was out to a quick 4-0 lead and his serve proved essential to his victories in the second and fourth games of the set.
With his serve working well early, Shelton cruised to a straight-sets victory against Gigante 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round of the 2025 French Open. For the American, the victory marks his deepest run at Roland Garros in his young pro tennis career.
Last time out on the courts, Shelton defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego in a five-set thriller, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. This victory sent Shelton to the tournament's second round, where he was set to play Frenchman Hugo Gaston. However, the match was declared a walkover due to abdominal pain that forced Gaston to drop out of the tournament.
With an extra two days of rest, Shelton went into Friday’s contest with the opportunity to reach the round of 16 for the first time at Roland Garros.
Shelton’s opponent, Gigante, came into Friday fresh off an upset over No. 20 seed Stefan Tsitsipas of Greece. The Italian defeated his opponent in four sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. In the first round, Gigante defeated Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon in three sets to kick off his campaign in the French Open. The Rome native is 2-3 in singles this year.
As mentioned, Shelton started the match by taking the first game of the first set, largely due to his serve. Shelton would lead 4-2 later in the set and despite Gigante taking a late game, the former Gator prevailed 6-3 to take the first set.
In the second set, Shelton also got off to a quick start. After securing a break point in the first game, Shelton powered through to take a 4-0 lead. However, Giganted showed a fight toward the end of the set. The Italian took three of the next four games to tie the first set 5-3. Ultimately, Shelton fought off the comeback efforts to win the set 6-3 and take a 2-0 advantage in the contest.
The third set proved to be the tightest in Friday’s match. With a trip to the round of 16 on the line, Gigante and Shelton went back and forth, Shelton trying to make his first visit to the round of 16 and Gigante trying to stay alive to pull off another upset.
With the third set at 5-4, Shelton took a break point and the third set 6-4 to end the match in straight sets. For the Georgia native, the victory marked his sixth in the last eight singles matches on the pro circuit.
Next, Shelton will face the No. 1 seed and last year’s tournament winner, Carlos Alcaraz, on Monday, June 1. The time and court assignment will be decided closer to the match's date.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Summer 2025 women's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
