Ben Shelton won his opening match in Acapulco (Image: Getty)
has revealed that he feared one of his lower-ranked rivals would become his “daddy” if he had lost his match in Acapulco.
The American earned his first victory over world No. 39 Flavio Cobolli at the Mexican Open on Monday, winning in two tiebreak sets.
Shelton had a 0-2 record against Cobolli going into the match, and he explained why it would have been detrimental to fall to 0-3.
Shelton is the fifth seed at this week’s ATP 500 in Acapulco but he was handed a brutal draw, meeting Cobolli in the first round.
The Italian has been Shelton’s kryptonite in the past, beating the world No. 14 in Geneva and Washington. Because of their one-sided head-to-head, Shelton had extra motivation going into their third meeting.
The American won a close first set 7-4 in the tiebreak, but he was the first to get broken in the match, trailing 3-0 in set two.
But Shelton refused to let Cobolli become his “daddy” and rallied to win three games in a row. Another tiebreak was needed for the fifth seed to wrap up a 7-6(4) 7-6(4) victory.
Flavio Cobolli had previously never lost to Ben Shelton (Image: Getty)
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Afterwards, Shelton admitted that he was worried he would blow his lead against the Italian. “That was one I wanted really bad,” the 22-year-old said.
“For me, I won the first set in the first two matches and ended up going down a break in the second, losing the second, and ultimately losing in three sets.
“So for me, I wanted to fight back there, complete it in two and get off the court.”
The victory was especially important for Shelton as he would go on to explain: “It’s never easy going into a match being 0-2 against somebody.
Like I said in Australia, you go 0-3 and they become your daddy, so I was fighting again for that not to happen and happy with the performance tonight.”
Shelton will now face David Goffin for a spot in the quarter-final. The pair have never met on a match court, so there’s no risk of Goffin becoming his “daddy” any time soon.
Elsewhere in Acapulco, British No. 2 lost to teenage qualifier Learner Tien in his opening match.
The 19-year-old is enjoying a breakthrough season – he also stunned in the second round of the last month.