SHANGHAI – Seed Ben Shelton, the sixth seed Ben Shelton, who hasn’t played since suffering a left shoulder injury at the US Open, was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by David Goffin in his second round match at the Shanghai Masters on Friday.
Goffin broke Shelton’s serve shortly after play resumed after a brief rainy suspension.
Earlier in the week, Shelton said he hoped to qualify for the ATP Finals, which took place in Turin, Italy from November 9th, despite a five-week layoff.
Shelton is currently sixth in the Turin points race, with eight of them reaching the finals. But his Friday loss will put a dent in those ambitions.
“At this point this year, this is the first time I’ve put myself in a good position to make Turin,” Shelton told the ATP Tour website this week ahead of his match against Goffin. “Hopefully we’ll get a little better results and get through the line.”
In another second round match, American Francistiáfo, seeded 25th, lost 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-1 to German Yannick Hanfmann.
All the top seed players in Shanghai received goodbye in the first round. No. 4 Novak Jjokovic and fifth seed Taylor Fritz were scheduled to play later Friday.
Jannik Sinner, who won the China Open Finals in Beijing on Wednesday, was not scheduled to play until Saturday. Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Fritz in the Japan Open Finals, announced after his victory in Tokyo that he would not play in Shanghai due to some minor illnesses.