Tomas Martin Etcheverry is determined to break his losing streak against debutant Ben Shelton when they meet in the first round of the Swiss Indoors on Tuesday
Given the Argentine's up-and-down performances this year, it is unclear how he will handle the challenge posed by Shelton's booming serve.
Match preview
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Etcheverry seeks a deep run at the ATP 500 event in Basel, hoping to improve on a rather average season outside his performances on clay.
The 25-year-old's 29-26 win-loss record preceding Tuesday's match-up with Shelton highlights the world No. 36's ordinary year, in which positive outcomes on other surfaces have been rare.
The Argentine's best performances have come on clay, underscored by reaching the quarter-finals on home soil in Cordoba in February and the same stage in Buenos Aires.
He also advanced to the semis of the ATP 250 event in Houston in April, beaten by Tuesday's opponent, progressed to the last four of the ATP 500 event in Barcelona and missed out on a first Tour-level title in the clay-court event in Lyon in May, losing in three tight sets to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Etcheverry's potential on hard courts recently saw him give Jannik Sinner a scare in Shanghai, only for the world No. 1 to win sets two and three en route to success at the year's penultimate Masters 1000 event.
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Regardless, he still enters Tuesday's round of 32 meeting with Shelton as the underdog, with the American looking to extend his winning record over the towering Argentine.
The world No. 23 returns to action for the first time since exiting in Shanghai at the hands of Sinner, who dug deep and chose his moments to unpick the big-serving 22-year-old.
Shelton's performance in that last-16 match might have sufficed against any other opponent, and the United States player enters the Basel event full of confidence after an admirable summer marked by decent-to-good showings at every tournament, including the Laver Cup in Berlin.
Apart from being Team World's top performer at the 2024 event in Germany, Shelton has advanced to the last eight in Tokyo, where he exited to eventual winner Arthur Fils before following that with a fourth-round run in Shanghai.
Having previously reached the quarters in Cincinnati, beating Etcheverry during that Cincy run, and advancing to the third round at the final major of the year on home soil, Shelton has avoided tournament-opening defeats since July in Atlanta and the effervescent American hopes to keep that run going in Basel.
Head To Head
Cincinnati Masters (2024) - Round of 32: Shelton 6-7(6) 7-6(7) 6-3
Houston (2024) - Semi-final: Shelton 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4
Although Shelton leads their head-to-head 2-0, both meetings this year have been closely contested battles.
The American fought back from losing the opening sets to Etcheverry in Houston and Cincinnati, highlighting how both match-ups could have gone either way had the finer details gone the Argentine's way.
We say: Shelton to win in three sets
While another three-set battle may be in the offing, we expect Shelton to get the better of Etcheverry on his Basel Open debut, continuing his run of avoiding tournament-opening losses to set up a last-16 meeting with Adrian Mannarino or Swiss veteran Stanislas Wawrinka.
