A year ago at this stage, the American stormed back to win in a third-set tiebreak.

However, Jannik Sinner was in no mood to have his Shanghai hopes crushed once again as he simply upped his level when needed.

The Italian broke at 4-4 in the opener to take the first set, before a powerful 7-1 win in the second-set tie-break squashed any hopes of a comeback.

Jannik Sinner admits ‘tough’ match due to incredible Ben Shelton serving

Quite remarkably, especially given Sinner’s ambitions to work in his return of serve, Shelton lost the first set despite missing just one first serve throughout.

With Shelton booming down his sliding lefty serve, Sinner quickly managed to get a good read on them.

Notching up four aces in the first set compared to Sinner’s two, Shelton landed 21/22 first serves losing just four.

However, Sinner’s patience was rewarded as he broke decisively to undermine Shelton’s central weapon.

It was very tough. He played only first serves, except one second serve,” Sinner said to the ATP of Shelton’s opening set serving performance. “I tried to wait a little bit. Obviously playing against him, even if it’s a second serve, it’s very tough to return.

“But if I look the positive picture, how I ended the match, I tried to stay a bit more aggressive, which I’ve done, and this hopefully can give me confidence for the for the next round.”

Ben Shelton gets found out as the gulf between him and top five is exposed

Shelton was wonderful at the Laver Cup notching up a famous win over Daniil Medvedev. However, after a straight sets defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, followed by this one to Sinner, the gap he needs to bridge is made all the more obvious.

Tipped for the top, Shelton’s powerful serve and forehand has carried him all the way to the top 20, including one Grand Slam semi-final appearance.

Shelton himself admitted his struggles against the top players after his Laver Cup defeat to Alcaraz – it is not as if he’s in the dark about his current shortcomings compared to those at the very top.

The 22-year-old is certainly not far off, With Shelton admitting he’s looking to improve several aspects of his game.

However, when your main weapon gets neutralised as soon as the business end of the set comes about, you unfortunately have a problem you need to grapple with.

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