Tennis: Djokovic and Shelton lose in Basel
Djokovic fell to Struff in three sets, while Shelton suffered a surprise defeat to local wild card Jerome Kym at the Swiss Indoors.
By Yara Nasser ·
Novak Djokovic will not tie Roger Federer’s career title count at the Swiss Indoors this week. The 39-year-old Serb lost his opening match Thursday to 47th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff, ending his bid to match the 103 career titles held by the Swiss legend. Djokovic currently holds 102 career titles, a number he increased earlier this month with a win in Beijing.
The defeat came on a day that saw major upsets in Basel. Top-seeded Ben Shelton also fell, losing to 222nd-ranked Swiss wild card Jerome Kym in a night session. The result marks the third time this season that the No. 4-ranked American has lost to an opponent ranked in the triple digits. Shelton previously defeated players ranked between 87 and 56 this year while capturing four titles across different surfaces.
Djokovic’s loss concluded with Struff serving for the match. The 36-year-old German fired his 27th ace down the center of the court to secure the 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory. Djokovic had saved the second match point with an ace of his own before conceding the final point. It marked his first appearance at the Basel event in 15 years.
The tournament history connects the two stars deeply. Djokovic defeated Federer in the 2009 final in Basel to claim one of his 102 titles. Federer, who grew up in the city and worked as a ballboy there, won the following year’s edition. He has lifted the Basel trophy a record 10 times, second only to Jimmy Connors’ career total of 109 titles in the all-time rankings.
Shelton faced difficult conditions during his loss to Kym. The 23-year-old Kym, a tall right-hander who typically only plays main draws in his home country, won the deciding tiebreaker 7-1. He finished the match with a backhand passing shot played at full stretch while running toward the net. Shelton had salvaged a 5-6 deficit in the second set and a two-break hole in the third set before falling.
Kym will face Jiri Lehecka in the next round. The eighth-seeded Czech defeated Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-4 to advance. Other results from earlier in the day set up a quarterfinal match between two Americans.
Second-seeded Arthur Fils dropped the first set but recovered to beat No. 34 Alex Michelsen of the United States 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Fils will now face sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz, who defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-3. These matches are scheduled for Friday.
