Ben Shelton’s undefeated streak at the Australian Open continued through the third round on Friday night as the former Florida Gator took down World No. 31 Valentin Vacherot in straight sets on Margaret Court in Melbourne.
Shelton took the first two sets 6-4 before finishing the win off with a tiebreaker victory. He fired off 48 winners, including 15 aces, taking 81% of his first-serve points. He only needed four break-point opportunities to get the job done. He converted on two of them and denied Vacherot on his one opportunity.
Shelton hasn’t dropped a set so far, and his confidence is growing by the day.
“The best that I’ve played at a Slam was up until I got injured at the US Open last summer,” Shelton said. “I think that this is probably second, but to be in the form that I’m in as early as it is in the year is really encouraging.”
The 23-year-old left-hander has always leaned on his power serve, but that aspect of his game is only improving the more he refines his approach. Vacherot didn’t have a single return winner in the match.
“I think that I’m serving much better now,” he said. “I think that the way that I’m able to flatten out the forehand and change speeds on the backhand with the slice, topspin and flat balls, I’ve seen improvements, for sure.”
Up next for Ben Shelton at 2026 Australian Open
Looking ahead, Shelton faces World No. 13 Casper Ruud, who has dropped only one set through the first week of the Australian Open. The match will take place Sunday night or early Saturday morning. No time or court has been set for the match yet. Ruud didn’t make the fourth round of any major last year, but he has the edge over Shelton in the head-to-head matchup.
Shelton took their first meeting, 6-3, 6-3, at the Cincinnati 1000 in 2022, but Rudd beat him in 2023 and 2024, taking four of the last five sets. However, Shelton has improved dramatically since then and is playing some of the best, if not the best, tennis of his career. The American should still enter the match as the betting favorite.
Should Shelton advance, he’ll face the winner of the all-Italian Round of 16 matchup between World No. 2 Jannik Sinner and No. 25 Luciano Darderi in the quarter-final. Shelton lost to Sinner in the semis last year.
Ben Shelton’s world ranking, official points
Shelton entered the first grand slam of the 2026 season as the No. 7 player in the world and the top-ranked American with 4,000 official points.
He opened the season with a quarter-final appearance at the ATP Auckland 250. He went 1-1 in the tournament, losing to then-World No. 39 Sebastian Baez. However, Shelton made it one round further in the event than he did in 2025, earning him 40 points.
With that said, Shelton stands to lose a large number of points in Melbourne after reaching the semi-finals of the 2025 Australian Open. Semifinalists earn 720 points in Grand Slam events, and Shelton would have to beat Sinner in the quarter-finals to get there. A loss to Sinner would mean a 360-point dip.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Ben Shelton stays perfect through Round 3 at Australian Open
Reporting by David Rosenberg, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
