Houston
Shelton begins clay swing with 21-ace statement in Houston
Top-seeded American is into the QFs
April 02, 2026
Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images
Ben Shelton is into the Houston quarter-finals.
By ATP Staff
Top seed Ben Shelton began his clay-court swing in winning fashion Wednesday, ousting China’s Zhang Zhizhen 7-6(5), 7-6(3) at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
“It was my first match in almost a year on clay,” said Shelton, who hammered 21 aces. “I didn’t feel that comfortable playing from the baseline yet, it’s just something that’s going to take time and take a few matches. I knew I had to be effective with my serve tonight and hit a few aces, and I’m happy that I did.”
Neither player broke serve throughout the one-hour, 53-minute match, during which Shelton rallied from 2/5 in the first-set tie-break to win the opener.
Shelton, who won the Houston trophy in 2024, is playing his first clay-court event since advancing to the Roland Garros quarter-finals last June. He arrived in Houston following a disappointing March, when he went 1-2 across Indian Wells and Miami. Shelton is set to surpass Taylor Fritz for American No. 1 honours in Monday’s PIF ATP Rankings.
The 23-year-old improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Zhang, who beat Shelton two years ago at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.
Into the quarter-finals, Shelton will next meet Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante for the first time. Tirante downed Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 6-0. Tirante’s countryman Tomas Martin Etcheverry also advanced to the last eight with a 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-3 victory against Alex Bolt.