Ben Shelton has discussed the perils of standing across the court from monster server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The pair battled it out for the Swiss Indoors title on Sunday, with Mpetshi Perricard prevailing in straight sets to clinch his first ATP 500 crown. None of the five players faced by the Frenchman had a consistent answer to his huge serve, and Shelton was dispatched 6-4 7-6.

Only nine players in the history of tennis have ever recorded a faster serve than the 152mph bomb Mpetshi Perricard unleashed at the French Open earlier this year. And the 6ft 8in giant wound up for another special against Shelton which clocked in at 146mph.

Once his defeat was confirmed, sixth seed Shelton admitted it took everything out of him to get the ball back over the net. “I want to congratulate Gio on a great week and a great match today,” began the 22-year-old.

“I almost killed myself trying to return your serve. So many other parts of your game have improved so much and you’re such a great young talent and so good for the sport.

“It’s cool to see so many different styles out here on tour, and you add so much, so congrats on an outstanding breakout season going from 200 in the world to 30 in the world in 10 months. It’s something to be very, very proud of.”

Mpetshi Perricard, ranked 30th in the world after his Swiss Indoors triumph, put in a breakthrough Grand Slam performance at Wimbledon this summer. The 21-year-old beat Sebastian Korda en route to the last 16, where he was eventually toppled by Lorenzo Musetti.

Results have been mixed in the tournaments since, but everything came together in Switzerland, where he beat heavyweight stars Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Holger Rune before getting the better of Shelton.

“On this [hard] surface, of course my serve is a good weapon for me,” said Mpetshi Perricard. “But I try to be aggressive from the baseline and put some pressure on the opponent. I’m very happy [because it is] a big part of my game.”

The youngster will be back in action on home turf this week. And there will be no let-up from a challenging run of matches at the Swiss Indoors, with 14th seed Frances Tiafoe his slated first-round opponent at the Paris Masters.