Top-ranked American man Ben Shelton suffered a surprising three-set loss to Raphael Collignon in the second round of the French Open on Thursday.
Collignon, ranked No. 62, set the tone early with steady baseline play and won the first frame 6-4. Shelton couldn’t match the Belgian’s consistency in the second set, eventually losing 5-7. Collignon then sealed the victory with a clinical 6-4 triumph in the third set.
Shelton’s early exit at Roland Garros follows a difficult clay-court stretch for the left-hander. The American lost his first match in Rome to Nikoloz Basilashvili earlier in May and his first match in Madrid to Dino Prizmic in late April.