Ben back in business as Shelton sweeps Humbert but Joao Fonseca falls at Australian Open

Ben Shelton was a semi-finalist at the 2025 Australian Open and he got back to business in style on Tuesday defeating Ugo Humbert 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 inside Rod Laver Arena to continue his impressive stint in Melbourne over the years.

Shelton hit 15 aces and won 78% of points behind his first serve to contain the Frenchman en route to a two-hour, 37 minute win in the end to reach the second round.

He now sits at 12-3 at the Australian Open and faces either Gael Monfils who plays his final Australian Open or Dane Sweeny, the home qualifier. So either way a match with high stakes in regards to facing a showman hero or a home one at that. Humbert will no doubt be gutted with the Frenchman reaching the final in Adelaide just last week.

"I thought I stayed really calm today. Obviously, I knew coming in that on a court like this, anywhere, playing Ugo first round is a tough draw. But for me it was just focusing on the things I’ve been doing, focusing on the areas that I’ve been trying to improve, and just trying to get better as the match went on," said Shelton. "I felt like I found some of my better tennis later in the match, and that’s all you can hope for. So I’m looking forward to trying to continue this form and make it better and better throughout the tournament. But thanks everybody for coming out."

He also spoke about serving for the set at 6-5 in the second and being dragged into a late battle from there in the form of a tie-break. "I’d just been up a break earlier in the set and I got broken, so for me, breaking two times in that set, I knew I was returning well. I also knew I was serving well. I got a little unlucky with those two breaks—that’s what I tell myself. But yeah, I thought I just played a great tiebreaker, two great tiebreakers. I’ve played a lot of tiebreakers here, got a lot of experience, and I think that helped me a lot today."

Lorenzo Musetti also advanced to the second round early on Tuesday. He saw off Raphael Collignon who had to retire deep into the fourth set. Musetti at the time was 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 3-2 up when the Belgian was forced to call it quits so it was very much fine margins either way.

While Joao Fonseca kind of like Alexandra Eala in the war of players with low court placings for their fanbase was also defeated in his opener. One year after he stunned Andrey Rublev, he is in a much higher ranking but Eliot Spizzirri is a player on the rise and he was a tough opening round draw. He moved through 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 for an upset win on 1573 Arena. He now gets a very good draw with either Luca Nardi or Wu Yibing next up for him.

Finally Sebastian Baez has had a wonderful start to the season and that continued as the little met large clash went his way as he faced Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and won through 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 to improve to 8-1 for the year. He survived 30 aces and a spirited comeback and looked like a child at the net alongside a 6"7" Perricard but it was the Argentine that had the last laugh in the end.