Tennis
Ben Shelton Fires 44 Aces to Survive Three-Tiebreak Basel Thriller
Shelton hit 44 aces and won two closing tiebreaks to defeat Aleksandar Kovacevic in a demanding first-round match at Basel.
Ben Shelton struck 44 aces as he survived a three-tiebreak first-round match against Aleksandar Kovacevic at the Swiss Indoors in Basel on Tuesday. The top seed came through 6–7 (4), 7–6 (3), 7–6 (4), preserving his place in the ATP 500 draw after dropping the opening set.
The match lasted two hours and 38 minutes, according to the ATP roundup carried by Reuters. Shelton saved all four break points he faced, an important complement to the ace total in a contest where neither player established a decisive advantage through ordinary service games.
TennisTemple’s statistical account placed the 44 aces among the highest totals recorded in a best-of-three-set match. It remains below Milos Raonic’s 47 at Queen’s in 2024, so Shelton’s performance should be described as exceptional without incorrectly labeling it the outright record.
The score makes clear why the serve mattered. Losing the first tiebreak left Shelton needing both remaining sets, and Kovacevic stayed close enough to force another breaker each time. Shelton won the second tiebreak by four points and the deciding one by three.
An ace total alone does not decide a match, but in this case it gave Shelton repeated points without a return coming back into play. Protecting his other service points, particularly the four break chances, allowed him to carry the match into the phases he ultimately won.
The event’s official opening-week preview had identified Shelton as the top seed and Kovacevic as his scheduled opponent. Tuesday’s result moves the American beyond that opening assignment, although it required considerably more work than a straight-sets progression.
Basel’s indoor hard courts make serving and return opportunities central to the tactical picture, but the next opponent will bring a different set of demands. The 44 aces are a completed-match achievement, rather than a projection of the numbers Shelton will produce in every round.
For now, the result keeps his tournament alive after an opening match settled by the narrow margins of three consecutive tiebreaks.
