Ben Shelton came through a tense opening-round encounter at Roland-Garros 2025, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in five sets under the lights on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The No.13 seed needed three hours and 31 minutes to overcome the Italian 6–4, 4–6, 3–6, 6–2, 6–3 in what was their fourth career meeting. Sonego had beaten Shelton in Paris two years ago in the first round, but the American now leads their head-to-head 3–1.
Shelton started strong but was pushed into deep rallies by Sonego, who took control after the second set. The Italian broke Shelton late in a six-deuce game to claim the second set and then ran away with the third, winning 16 of the last 20 points.
The momentum shifted in the fourth as Shelton cleaned up his unforced errors and began dictating with his serve. Despite taking a medical timeout before the decider, he returned unbothered and reeled off five straight games to close the match.
Shelton fired 15 aces, including five in the final set. He finished with 58 winners to 42 unforced errors, while Sonego ended with 35 winners and 37 errors.
This was Shelton’s 10th five-set match at a major and improved his record in such contests to 7–3. He advances to the second round, keeping his streak alive of not losing in the first round of a Slam since Roland-Garros 2023.
The match was the joint second-longest of Day 1 and marked Shelton’s debut under the lights at Chatrier.
