Swiss Indoors Basel Round-Up: Shelton saves match point in thriller; Fonseca and Shapovalov make statement wins

The first round of the ATP 500 Basel Open has been completed, with no major surprises and featuring wins from Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov among the most notable. Furthermore, the duel between João Fonseca and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was one of the most anticipated of the day and ended with a convincing victory for the 19-year-old Brazilian star.

The World No. 46 João Fonseca secured a victory upon his return to the courts, after completely skipping the Asian Swing to prepare for the final tournaments of the year. The Brazilian teenager decided not to travel to the Asian tournaments and concentrate on the European indoor swing in the final weeks, making this his first official competition since the US Open at the end of August (where he reached the second round and fell to Tomáš Macháč).

In his return to the courts, he had a tough draw against Mpetshi Perricard, but the South American managed to navigate it by maintaining focus on his serve. In the first set, both kept their composure, and with no break points played, everything was decided in the tie-break, where an early mini-break for the Brazilian was enough to take the set on his 4th set point, 7-6(8-6).

Heading into the second set, Fonseca capitalized on the momentum from the previous set and secured an early break. With excellent service games, he took a 3-0 lead, and from there, he had no trouble closing out the straight-sets victory (7-6, 6-3). Fonseca won 76% of his service points and hit 7 aces, compared to 68% for Mpetshi Perricard, who totaled 13 aces.

Ben Shelton returned to winning ways after a disappointing run in Asia, where he only played the Shanghai Masters—falling in the first round to David Goffin. The American World No. 6 has lacked match rhythm in the last couple of months, and an injury forced him to withdraw from the Laver Cup, Davis Cup, and Tokyo Open. However, back in Europe, he managed a hard-fought victory, in which he saved two match points against him to defeat the Pole Kamil Majchrzak (No. 70).

Two players known for their good serves combined for a total of 25 aces, with the Pole winning 74% of points on his first serve and Shelton winning 77%. In a tight first set—with no breaks for either—the Pole took the lead in the tie-break, sending the match to the second set with the advantage on his side. However, Shelton reacted, securing two breaks to comfortably take the second set 6-3.

The third set lasted over an hour, with Majchrzak saving the only break point he faced in the set. Everything was decided in the tie-break, and the Pole took the advantage, serving for the win at 6-4. However, Shelton saved two match points and won five of the last six points to take the victory 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(9-7). In the second round, he will face the Spaniard Jaume Munar.

Denis Shapovalov (No. 23) turned around a difficult match against the American Marcos Giron (No. 57), overcoming a set deficit to close out the victory in the third-set tie-break 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-6(4). In the first set, Shapovalov fought to save several break points—and even recovered from a break down at 5-6 to send it to the tie-break—but Giron ultimately took the lead by being more convincing on serve.

However, things changed in the second set, where Shapovalov dominated and delivered a bagel in just 23 minutes with three consecutive breaks and without conceding any points on his serve. It was a practically perfect set from the Canadian, who won 24/27 points played in the set (89%). It seemed it would be easy to close out the win from there, but Giron reacted and offered a good battle to Shapo in the final part of the match. Amidst cross-breaks, everything ended up being decided in the tie-break, where Shapovalov showed his quality and closed out the victory with his serve 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-6(4).