Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Thursday June 27, 2024 at 10:20 p.m.
Coming from the qualifications, the Briton Paul Jubb created a surprise by qualifying for the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Mallorca at the expense of Ben Shelton, seeded number 1.
Ben Shelton probably didn’t expect that. Seeded number 1 on the grass in Mallorca, the American saw his journey end in the quarter-finals against the surprise of the week. 289th player in the world and from the qualifications, Paul Jubb made it to the semi-finals for only his fourth tournament on the main ATP circuit. Accustomed to the Challenger and ITF circuits, the Briton started the match with a bang by winning the first four games. Ben Shelton then found the resources to erase one of his two breaks behind but without managing to completely catch up despite the two opportunities that presented themselves. With a blank, Paul Jubb took the lead at the end of this first set. Continuing his momentum, the York native started the second by taking the serve of the 14th player in the world. However, the American’s awakening was only a matter of time and he was terrible.
Shelton left the door open for Jubb
Then leading three games to one, Ben Shelton went on to win five games in a row, not without saving three break points along the way, to equalize at one set all at the first opportunity. The last set saw both players going blow for blow. While the seventh game saw the American miss three break points, the Briton failed four times in the process. Paul Jubb even had three opportunities to conclude his opponent’s commitment just before the tiebreak. A decisive game which saw the 289th in the world dictate the tempo but tremble on three new match points. However, after saving one for Ben Shelton, he was able to get back in the direction of travel. Winning the last three points, he created one of the biggest surprises of the start of the season (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in 2h45′). For a place in the final, he will meet the Austrian Sebastian Ofner this Friday, who also needed three sets to overcome Alex Michelsen (6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in 1h55′).
