Ben Shelton has defeated the Canadian World No. 38, Gabriel Diallo, in his Round of 32 match at the Dallas Open with a major improvement in a key area. The American star recently revealed that he turned his weakness into a strength and was able to overcome the limitations he had previously faced during his Australian Open campaign, which he concluded with a quarterfinal loss to World No. 2, Jannik Sinner.
Ben Shelton Advances in Dallas With an Improved Strategy After What He Learned Against Jannik Sinner
Shelton commenced his 2026 season at the ASB Classic, where he advanced to the quarterfinals, and then entered the Melbourne Slam as the eighth seed. There, he registered impressive performances, defeating World No. 25 Valentin Vacherot, World No. 13 Casper Ruud, and others to reach the quarterfinals. However, he fell short against Sinner, a year after losing to the World No. 2 in the semifinals at the Rod Laver Arena.
Shelton had admitted his second-serve return was not dominant against the Italian star, which led to him missing key points. He had expressed his thoughts on this after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 loss, adding, “I had two second-serve looks on break points today, and I think I missed both of them, or maybe one of them I hit weak, and he spread me quickly. But I just think that I needed to be a little bit more aggressive and intentional with what I did with the second serve.”
However, in his match against Diallo at the Dallas Open, Shelton attacked with his rejuvenated mindset and avoided making the same mistake, winning 65% (13/20) of second-serve return points. During his on-court interview via TennisTV, Shelton reflected on the area and said he wanted to improve by using his confidence and aggression, and that he was happy with his performance.
He added, “I was pretty p****d after the Australian Open with my numbers on second serve return. I thought that’s an area that I’ve improved a lot on, but my numbers weren’t good there, and I’m just focusing on being a little bit more offensive, taking more chances, trying to get to the net, find forehands after the second serve return, and I did a great job of that today. I think I was able to keep them off balance with how aggressive I was, and I’m OK with making a few errors there if it means that I’m going for my shots.”
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Shelton defeated Diallo in straight sets, with a concluding score of 6-4, 6-4. He is also competing in the doubles category with his partner, former World No. 54, Aleksandar Kovacevic. The American duo has defeated Georgi Georgiev and Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16 and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will face Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia.
