Ben Shelton made light of Juncheng Shang's frustration during their match against each other at the DC Open.

American player Shelton faced Chinese teenager Shang in the second round of the ATP 500 event, with the latter ultimately winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, adding to his achievement of being the first Chinese man to win a match at the tournament.

The 18-year-old victor took the first set with ease, winning 12 out of 14 points while Shelton committed two double faults.

Although the 20-year-old fought back to win the second set, Shang proved to be the better player on the day and won the third set with a strong return and four unforced errors from his opponent.

Read also

Leylah Fernandez overcomes Bernarda Pera in nerve-wracking DC Open Showdown

Shang hits ball in frustration

However, one of the most memorable moments of the match came during the second set, after Shang conceded a point by hitting a ball out of the court during a rally.

When the umpire called it out, the young player struggled to contain his annoyance and hit the ball in the air out of sheer frustration.

The ball then flew towards Shelton, who decided to see the funny side of it by stopping to deliberately let himself get hit, before pretending to be hurt by the impact.

In the video shared by Tennis TV, he feigns pain for a few seconds before breaking character and laughing. He then briefly repeats the action again, much to the amusement of the crowd, the commentators, and Shang himself. 

Read also

(VIDEO) Andreescu refused to play until security removed guy in crowd

Shang happy with his playing style

Speaking after the match, Shang said that he was happy with how he played against the 14th seed,

"I'm definitely very happy right now. Ben is not an easy player to beat. I think I've got a game that kind of suits me to playing him.

"I've got a great return I think and in the past two weeks, I've been returning really well. So I think that was the key today, to break a few service games from him."

Tennis TV

@TennisTV

·Follow

Nothing to see here 😂 @BenShelton #MubadalaCitiDCOpen

Watch on Twitter

548

Reply

Copy link

Read 8 replies