After Janik Sinner’s second-round shock opened the door, American No. 5 seed Ben Shelton’s own French Open bid ended abruptly. Shelton fell in straight sets to Belgium’s Raphael Collignon, losing 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round.
The window looked open for Ben Shelton when Janik Sinner was upset in the second round of the French Open Thursday. Shelton, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, had every reason to believe the moment could belong to him.
Instead, it closed quickly. Shelton was eliminated in the second round by Raphael Collignon of Belgium, suffering a straight-set defeat that ended his campaign after one match.
Collignon, ranked 62nd, drove the American out of the tournament with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win. The result carried weight beyond the scoreline. It was among the most notable victories of Collignon’s career, and after the final point, he broke down in tears.
Shelton arrived with his serve usually shaping matches, but it did not arrive in the form he needed. He won just 69 percent of the points on his first serve. Collignon’s first serve was far sharper—he won 88 percent of the points behind it.
Even the numbers told the story. Shelton’s serve was clocked at 118 miles per hour, while Collignon reached 126 MPH with his damaging first serve. Shelton’s returns struggled to find traction as well. He managed to win only 18 percent of his return points. and throughout the match he never created a single break point.
Collignon kept finding opportunities to apply pressure. He broke Shelton’s serve three times, including once in each set, turning each shift in momentum into something permanent.
Shelton’s departure also landed in a broader, uncomfortable thread for American men on clay. The source of concern isn’t new. Americans have stumbled badly in clay-court matches for several years.
Still, Shelton had offered a reminder that he could handle the surface. Earlier this year, he earned a victory in the Munich Open. After that high, though, he lost in the early rounds of three other clay-court events.
One loss in Paris ended all of that progress. For Shelton, the second-round exit came after a run of matches that never quite found the consistent rhythm clay demanded. For Collignon, it came with tears—and with a victory that will linger as a defining moment in his career.
Ben Shelton Raphael Collignon French Open Roland Garros tennis second round Janik Sinner upset Belgium tennis clay court