By Hanlon Walsh
In his first career match at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships, No. 1 seed Ben Shelton gutted out a challenging three-set win in front of a packed stadium of U.S. tennis fans on Wednesday night. The top 20 American lefty overcame a slow start to claw his way back in the second set, overcoming Belgian Zizou Berg 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
With a 3-7 career record on clay, the hard-hitting 21-year-old American is learning to embrace the patience required to succeed on the slower clay surface in only his second full season on tour.
“Patience is definitely a virtue - but I don’t consider myself a patient person at all,” Shelton explained to host Blair Henley in his post-match interview. “I’m working on it and my team has been doing a great job helping me adjust better to the clay. I’m happy to be here in Houston and especially grateful for some of my family in Texas who came out to watch me play tonight.”
Shelton Now Three Wins Away from Family Title Quest
In his first Houston appearance, Shelton is relying on his father and coach, Bryan, for guidance on the red clay at River Oaks this week.
“My dad has always told me how great the crowd and tennis community is here in Houston, so I’m excited to be anywhere that he played during his career. It’s a special moment to share together.”
Coach Shelton, who himself was a 1992 River Oaks champion, watched intently from Ben’s player box on Wednesday night alongside Lori McNeil, a former WTA player who is a teaching professional at River Oaks. More than thirty years ago, Shelton teamed up with McNeil on a run to the 1992 Roland Garros mixed doubles final.
As the former college coach to Ben during his tenure as a Florida gator, the elder Shelton is the only coach in NCAA Division 1 history to win both a women’s national championship (Georgia Tech, 2007) and a men’s national championship (University of Florida, 2021).
With Shelton’s opening round win, he advances to the first clay quarterfinal of his career and sets up a blockbuster all-American quarterfinal clash with 22-year-old Brandon Nakashima. It will be a matchup between two of the top-ranked Americans under 25 who were both former collegiate standouts - Shelton at Florida and Nakashima at University of Virginia.
Nakashima Kicks Off First of Many U.S. vs. Aussie Battles to Come
In the first of four Round of 16 matchups between Americans and Australians, Nakashima posted the first point on the board for Team USA with a straightforward 6-1, 6-4 victory over Australian Rinky Hijikata. Nakashima continued his impressive week of serving with seven aces and 94% of points won on his first serve.
Once ranked as high as No. 43 in the world, Nakashima is trending upward again in the rankings while grinding through the post-injury comeback trail. He started 2024 ranked No. 134 and had climbed over 40 spots to No. 92 before Houston, building steady momentum ahead of the European clay swing over the next few months.
Giron Prevails in Battle of the “Quad-Fathers”
Thirty-year-old Marcos Giron, No. 5 seed in Houston, continued writing his late bloomer career narrative with a convincing straight-set victory 6-4, 6-2 over good friend and fellow American, JJ Wolf. In his third appearance at River Oaks, he advances to the quarterfinals for the first time - his third quarterfinal of 2024 on U.S. soil.
Earlier this year, he advanced to the Dallas Open finals and Delray Beach Open semi-finals with back-to-back top 20 wins over Adrian Mannarino (twice) and Frances Tiafoe.
Dubbed by tennis fans and tournament staff as the “Quad-Fathers”, Giron and Wolf put their quads on full display - both in tournament videos published on Wednesday morning and on Stadium Court during their Wednesday night battle.
“JJ is an incredible player and we're also good friends off the court,” Giron told Henley. “It’s great to see him back on court after fighting through some injuries. It was a battle but I am really happy that I was able to get through.”
Giron faces Italian Luciano Darderi in the quarterfinals, the Italian clay court specialist who is also enjoying a career-best year on tour.
Darderi Continues Breakout 2024 Clay Season
Darderi, who was born in Argentina, lived up to his 2024 clay pedigree with a signature three-set upset victory over No. 2 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina. In two-and-a-half hours, the Italian outlasted the Argentine 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4) to advance to his third ATP quarterfinal of 2024.
In his first round match, he saved three match points in the second set to defeat American Denis Kudla 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Darderi, who was also entered in the doubles draw, has spent a combined 6 hours and 7 minutes on court this week over the first three days of play.
Along with Jordan Thompson, Darderi is one of only two players in the 2024 field who has won a title this year - and the only player who owns a 2024 clay title. In 2024, he is also the winningest clay court player among the Houston field with a 10-2 (83%) clay record on the year.
U.S. Olympic Hopefuls Crash Out Early
With the 2024 Paris Olympics on the horizon, the top two American doubles players - Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram - joined forces this week at River Oaks to begin preparation for the Olympic Games that will be held on the red clay at Roland Garros later this summer.
Their Olympics training week in Houston ended earlier than expected, as the pair of former ATP No. 1s were eliminated by N. Sriram Balaji of India and Andre Begemann 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-6 on Stadium Court. Despite the first round loss, the Americans took the week in stride as a great opportunity to log some practice recaps together on the red clay.
“It was a tough loss and unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize on some of our opportunities, but that’s the way the doubles format works sometimes,” said Austin Krajicek in his post-match press conference. “It was great for us to get a good week of practice together regardless. The more matches and tough situations we can put ourselves in as a team, the more beneficial it will be for our Olympics preparation.”
Though Krajicek and Ram regularly play with other full-time partners, they will look to reunite on clay again later this summer in Hamburg, Germany before the Paris Olympics.
Purcell, Thompson Win Sixth Straight at River Oaks
Aussie doubles duo, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, continued their winning ways in Texas with a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 win in the quarterfinals over the Indian team of Anirudh Chandraskera and Vijay Sundar Prashanth. The defending champions and No. 4 seeds are the only seeded team remaining in the draw.
They have won their last six doubles matches at River Oaks while Purcell has an unblemished 10-0 lifetime doubles record here. He also won the 2022 title with fellow Aussie Matt Ebden. As the first team to advance to the semi-finals, they await the winner of Balaji/Begemann vs. Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Neduncheznhiyan. A title in Houston would mark their third doubles title of 2024, coming on the heels of hardcourt wins in Dallas and Los Cabos.
Purcell and Ebden will look to replicate the Bryan Brothers’ success on the red clay to become the first doubles team to defend their title since Bob and Mike in 2010-2011. Purcell would also become the first player to win three consecutive titles since the Bryan Brother in 2009-2011.
In the final first round doubles match of the tournament, the Brazilian team of
In his first career match at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships, No. 1 seed Ben Shelton gutted out a challenging three-set win in front of a packed stadium of U.S. tennis fans on Wednesday night. The top 20 American lefty overcame a slow start to claw his way back in the second set, overcoming Belgian Zizou Berg 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
With a 3-7 career record on clay, the hard-hitting 21-year-old American is learning to embrace the patience required to succeed on the slower clay surface in only his second full season on tour.
“Patience is definitely a virtue - but I don’t consider myself a patient person at all,” Shelton explained to host Blair Henley in his post-match interview. “I’m working on it and my team has been doing a great job helping me adjust better to the clay. I’m happy to be here in Houston and especially grateful for some of my family in Texas who came out to watch me play tonight.”
Shelton Now Three Wins Away from Family Title Quest
In his first Houston appearance, Shelton is relying on his father and coach, Bryan, for guidance on the red clay at River Oaks this week.
“My dad has always told me how great the crowd and tennis community is here in Houston, so I’m excited to be anywhere that he played during his career. It’s a special moment to share together.”
Coach Shelton, who himself was a 1992 River Oaks champion, watched intently from Ben’s player box on Wednesday night alongside Lori McNeil, a former WTA player who is a teaching professional at River Oaks. More than thirty years ago, Shelton teamed up with McNeil on a run to the 1992 Roland Garros mixed doubles final.
As the former college coach to Ben during his tenure as a Florida gator, the elder Shelton is the only coach in NCAA Division 1 history to win both a women’s national championship (Georgia Tech, 2007) and a men’s national championship (University of Florida, 2021).
With Shelton’s opening round win, he advances to the first clay quarterfinal of his career and sets up a blockbuster all-American quarterfinal clash with 22-year-old Brandon Nakashima. It will be a matchup between two of the top-ranked Americans under 25 who were both former collegiate standouts - Shelton at Florida and Nakashima at University of Virginia.
Nakashima Kicks Off First of Many U.S. vs. Aussie Battles to Come
In the first of four Round of 16 matchups between Americans and Australians, Nakashima posted the first point on the board for Team USA with a straightforward 6-1, 6-4 victory over Australian Rinky Hijikata. Nakashima continued his impressive week of serving with seven aces and 94% of points won on his first serve.
Once ranked as high as No. 43 in the world, Nakashima is trending upward again in the rankings while grinding through the post-injury comeback trail. He started 2024 ranked No. 134 and had climbed over 40 spots to No. 92 before Houston, building steady momentum ahead of the European clay swing over the next few months.
Giron Prevails in Battle of the “Quad-Fathers”
Thirty-year-old Marcos Giron, No. 5 seed in Houston, continued writing his late bloomer career narrative with a convincing straight-set victory 6-4, 6-2 over good friend and fellow American, J.J. Wolf. In his third appearance at River Oaks, he advances to the quarterfinals for the first time - his third quarterfinal of 2024 on U.S. soil.
Earlier this year, he advanced to the Dallas Open finals and Delray Beach Open semi-finals with back-to-back top 20 wins over Adrian Mannarino (twice) and Frances Tiafoe.
Dubbed by tennis fans and tournament staff as the “Quad-Fathers”, Giron and Wolf put their quads on full display - both in tournament videos published on Wednesday morning and on Stadium Court during their Wednesday night battle.
“J.J. is an incredible player and we're also good friends off the court,” Giron told Henley. “It’s great to see him back on court after fighting through some injuries. It was a battle but I am really happy that I was able to get through.”
Giron faces Italian Luciano Darderi in the quarterfinals, the Italian clay court specialist who is also enjoying a career-best year on tour.
Darderi Continues Breakout 2024 Clay Season
Darderi, who was born in Argentina, lived up to his 2024 clay pedigree with a signature three-set upset victory over No. 2 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina. In two-and-a-half hours, the Italian outlasted the Argentine 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4) to advance to his third ATP quarterfinal of 2024.
In his first round match, he saved three match points in the second set to defeat American Denis Kudla 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Darderi, who was also entered in the doubles draw, has spent a combined 6 hours and 7 minutes on court this week over the first three days of play.
Along with Jordan Thompson, Darderi is one of only two players in the 2024 field who has won a title this year - and the only player who owns a 2024 clay title. In 2024, he is also the winningest clay court player among the Houston field with a 10-2 (83%) clay record on the year.
U.S. Olympic Hopefuls Crash Out Early
With the 2024 Paris Olympics on the horizon, the top two American doubles players - Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram - joined forces this week at River Oaks to begin preparation for the Olympic Games that will be held on the red clay at Roland Garros later this summer.
Their Olympics training week in Houston ended earlier than expected, as the pair of former ATP No. 1s were eliminated by N. Sriram Balaji of India and Andre Begemann 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-6 on Stadium Court. Despite the first round loss, the Americans took the week in stride as a great opportunity to log some practice recaps together on the red clay.
“It was a tough loss and unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize on some of our opportunities, but that’s the way the doubles format works sometimes,” said Austin Krajicek in his post-match press conference. “It was great for us to get a good week of practice together regardless. The more matches and tough situations we can put ourselves in as a team, the more beneficial it will be for our Olympics preparation.”
Though Krajicek and Ram regularly play with other full-time partners, they will look to reunite on clay again later this summer in Hamburg, Germany before the Paris Olympics.
Purcell, Thompson Win Sixth Straight at River Oaks
Aussie doubles duo, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, continued their winning ways in Texas with a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 win in the quarterfinals over the Indian team of Anirudh Chandraskera and Vijay Sundar Prashanth. The defending champions and No. 4 seeds are the only seeded team remaining in the draw.
They have won their last six doubles matches at River Oaks while Purcell has an unblemished 10-0 lifetime doubles record here. He also won the 2022 title with fellow Aussie Matt Ebden. As the first team to advance to the semi-finals, they await the winner of Balaji/Begemann vs. Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Neduncheznhiyan. A title in Houston would mark their third doubles title of 2024, coming on the heels of hardcourt wins in Dallas and Los Cabos.
Purcell and Ebden will look to replicate the Bryan Brothers’ success on the red clay to become the first doubles team to defend their title since Bob and Mike in 2010-2011. Purcell would also become the first player to win three consecutive titles since the Bryan Brother in 2009-2011.
In the final first round doubles match of the tournament, the Brazilian team of Fernando Romboli and Marcelo Zormann defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Luciano Darderi 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals.
