Ben Shelton approaches the record for aces with 44 in his debut in Basel

The American Ben Sheltonfirst seed in the ATP 500 indoor hard court tournament in Basel, Roger Federer’s city, suffered to stay in competition. He played three tiebreaks in his even match with his compatriot Alexander Kovacevicwhom he beat 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) and 7-6 (4) in 2h.38′.

There was no service interruption. Shelton, 24 years old and world no. 4, came back from four break balls against him, one of which Kovacevic, 28 years old and no.

The serve was essential, with Shelton being more explosive. This one, a finalist in the last US Open, played 44, staying close to the universal record in three-set men’s tennis matches.

The record is in the possession of the Canadian Milos Raonicwho on the Queen’s grass scored 47 against the British Cameron Norrie, in 2024 and winning 6-7 (6), 6-3 and 7-6 (9).

He then surpassed the record of the Croatian Ivo Karlovicwith 45 against Tomas Berdych also on grass, in his case Halle. The Balkan won 7-5, 6-7 (8) and 6-3 in 2h.12′. Karlovic had made 75 aces, but in five sets, at the 2017 Australian Open.

Shelton equaled the Australian’s 44 Mark Philippoussis. He stayed far, like all of them, from the 113 of the American John Isner in the longest match in history, at Wimbledon 2010 against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who scored 103. They were on the court for 11 hours and 6 minutes, spread over three days due to rain breaks.

Ben Shelton adds those 44 ‘aces’ to a tally of 567. There are a total of 611 in 58 matches, at an average of 10.53 per match. In the overall campaign, German dominates Alexander Zverev with 797 in 79 games. At an average of 10 per match.