Madrid Masters: Shelton survives Navone scare to move into third round
Ben Shelton won against Mariano Navone 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Friday and will face No 22 seed Jakub Mensik in the next round
Ben Shelton, Madrid Open, 2025 © Khadim Sylla / Tennis Majors
Ben Shelton, the No 12 seed, moved into the third round of the Madrid Masters by winning against Argentinian Mariano Navone 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at the Caja Mágica.
The American found himself a set and a break down midway through the second set before putting together an excellent fightback to clinch the middle stanza on a tiebreak.
Shelton was able to wrestle control of the match in the decider, outmanoeuvring the adept clay-court Argentinian with two breaks without reply in the final set to earn a hard-fought win and move into the thrid round.
Shelton, ranked No 13, will face No 22 seed Jakub Mensik next.
Navone, ranked No 85, beat Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (6-4, 6-4) in the previous round of the Madrid tournament.
Madrid Masters 1000, other second-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Joao Fonseca vs. Tommy Paul
- Jack Draper vs. Tallon Griekspoor
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Luciano Darderi
- Karen Khachanov vs. Reilly Opelka
- Grigor Dimitrov vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Matteo Arnaldi vs. Novak Djokovic
- Alexandre Muller vs. Ugo Humbert
- Marcos Giron vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Jacob Fearnley vs. Tomas Machac
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
- Gabriel Diallo vs. Kamil Majchrzak
- Jiri Lehecka vs. Cameron Norrie
- Alex De Minaur vs. Lorenzo Sonego
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Kei Nishikori vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Sebastian Baez vs. Damir Dzumhur
- Flavio Cobolli vs. Holger Rune
- Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
- Nuno Borges vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Brandon Nakashima (31) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-3, 7-6 (3)
- Taylor Fritz (3) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-1, 6-4
- Alexander Zverev (1) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-2, 6-2
- Jakub Mensik beat Ethan Quinn (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-1
- Sebastian Korda (23) beat Federico Cina (WC): 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
- Alexander Bublik beat Alexei Popyrin (25): 6-4, 7-6 (4)
- Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (18): 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Laslo Djere
- Casper Ruud (14) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 6-4
- Benjamin Bonzi beat Hubert Hurkacz (27): 6-4, 7-5
- Francisco Comesana beat Arthur Fils (13): 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Francisco Cerundolo (20) beat Harold Mayot (Q): 6-3, 6-4
