It was a day and night of upsets at the ASB Classic, with all four top seeds in the men’s singles losing on Wednesday. Ben Shelton, defending champ Alejandro Tabilo, Sebastian Baez and Francisco Cerundolo are all on early flights to Melbourne, but at least top seed Shelton played a memorable 7(7)-6 4-6 7-5 match against Jakub Menšík before saying goodbye.

It was a dangerous night to be sitting in the corner corporate boxes, as both men started sending down 200 km/h serves in their first games. Shelton peaked at 224 km/h, while Menšík wasn’t far behind, but this was always going to be the case between the two six foot four players.

It meant while the rallies were world class, they were in short supply as both seemed content to try and blast each other off the court with their service games.

So it was no surprise at all that it ended in a tiebreaker, but Shelton lost his nerve and five consecutive points to drop the first set. It was also no surprise to hear the roar of relief from the American when he finally broke Menšík in the third game of the second set, because that seemed to signal a turning point.

Menšík again rung up three break points in the sixth game, but Shelton again clawed his way back to hold, then eventually sealed the second set with a deft lob.

The stage was set for a grandstand finish, and while the pair raced to 4-4 in quick time, Menšík had to withstand a marathon deuce point to hold serve. Shelton then survived a scare of his own at 5-4, surviving three match points before holding, but couldn’t repeat the effort in the final game.

The match finished at 11pm thanks to an earlier rain delay, but not one person left early due to it being neck and neck virtually the whole way through.

Shelton was philosophical immediately after, saying he “thought I played a good match, but he played a better one”.

“I liked the way that I battled…I served really well down the stretch and was hitting returns against a guy who was serving 220 every single time. I was disappointed I couldn’t get it done but it is what it is.”

Match winner Nishesh Basavareddy, of USA, right, consoles Alejandro Tabilo, of Chile, after the game.
Photo: Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz

Earlier, defending champion Tabilo was sent packing 6-4 5-7 6-4 by American 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy. It was a surprising end for Tabilo, a complete reversal of his fortunes last year when he came in completely under the radar as a qualifier. This time he was undone by a relative unknown, Basavareddy himself coming through qualifying in only his second ATP tournament.

Crowd favourite Gaël Monfils put on a much more assured performance to knock out Jan-Lernard Struff 6-1 7(7)-6, after having to mount a big comeback in his opening match. The 38-year-old said he “feels great, so we’ll keep going”.

Meanwhile, the Argentine third and fourth seeds are both on their way to Melbourne early too, Baez going down 6-4 7(7)-6 to his impressive compatriot Facundo Diaz Acosta, while Cerundolo lost 6-2 7-5 to Roberto Carballés Baena.