Talented shotmaker won.

 

Wow, Goffin so good in Shanghai. Quarters last year beating Zverev and Musetti.

 

Great result for tennis

 

I wasn't that optimistic, I thought Shelphone will survive a round and Diallo will take him out. But Gofffin has brought some of his best tennis he can summon to Shanghai once again. Well done.

 

Shelton also withdrew from doubles. Looks like he only came to Shanghai to keep his bonus pool commitment.

 

Shelton also withdrew from doubles. Looks like he only came to Shanghai to keep his bonus pool commitment.

New key word for MTF thanks Novak....

 

It's better for cocky BenBen to bring his even cockier homie TayTay and take a sabbatical, the ATP and WTA need it.

 

Good win for Goffin.

 

 

I watched the 2nd set. They played on Stadium and the magnolia roof was closed due to rain midway through the set. Quite a few players turned up to watch the match - I spotted Cobolli, Comesana and Rinderknech sitting together enjoying the show.

In a nutshell, Goffin was very good and Shelton was really quite poor. It's his first match back since his shoulder injury at the USO and hopefully it's healed fully and he was just rusty. He had chances in the 2nd set at 4-3, had 2 BPs at 15-40 on the Goffin serve, but lost something like 7 points in a row. He didn't look in any discomfort as far as I could tell and he was hitting the ball with plenty of pace. In terms of the groundgame, Goffin was moving him around the court and taking time away from him and Shelton was mistiming lots of shots. He tried coming into the net but made some wild volleys as well, only 5/14 at the net compared to an almost perfect 14/16 from Goffin. One of the only volleys Goffin missed was on his 1st MP but he converted his 2nd MP despite looking a little tight at the end.

 

No doubt Shelton will be glad when both Goffin and Mannarino retire in the next couple of years. I think he's now 1-5 vs them

 

A peaking Goffin is a touch match after a long break from an injury. Didn’t seem Shelton was too interested playing here

 

The doubles withdraw hopefully is not an injury issue and he just wants to go home for a month or so before Turin which is basically a lock though he has not officially clinched.

 

This generation is totally useless. If they were playing in the time of the big 3 and all the other tennis players back then I doubt they reach top 30 level. Those guys have so much more tennis skills. I hope younger players to come soon and show some real tennis.

 

Goffins clean ballstriking is really nice to watch when on. Sinner thought so, too.

 

Goffins clean ballstiking is a really nice to watch when on. Sinner thought so, too.

Sinner might have thought about how hard he had to work to beat Shelphone here last year, good to see Goffin having it easier this year.

 

 

Saw this on the schedule yesterday and I thought Goffin was the fav going in

 

Goffin is one of those guys that just when you think he finally may be done, he does something like this.

It seems like betting on Shelton and Tiafoe to lose on the same day against washed up players that were good ten years ago would be very profitable over the last month

 

Goffin is still a great player, no matter age.
Shelton coming back from bad injury, would have probably lost to players weaker than the Belgian as well.
Nothing to comment about.
Still a great season for Ben.

 

Shellphone flopped once again. But Alca also knows how it's like to lose against Goffin, so he shouldn't feel embarrassed.

 

Most of the people here mock Goffin, but even this very declined version of him can routine the mugs of these days sometimes.

 

quite some hard court era

 

It's very clear Shelphone can't be compared to Nadal by any means, not only because of the difference styles but also because of fighting mentality.
Nadal wasn't fit coming into the 2017 YEC, yet he made Goffin work very hard for the round robin win. Goffin served for the match in the 2nd set and had 3 match points late in that set, yet Nadal fought and forced a deciding set. Goffin had a double break lead in that deciding set yet in the end it was a rather tight ending to that set with Goffin winning 6-4. And that was peak Goffin.
Shelphone hasn't been fully fit coming into Shanghai, but he lost comfortably. And it was an aging Goffin on the other side of the net, not the peak Goffin Nadal faced. Amd while Nadal pushed peak Goffin to the very limit in conditions he's uncomfortable with, Shelphone couldn't stay competitive in conditions that favour him.

I'm as far from being a Nadal fan as it gets, but the truth must be written.

 

It's likely were not gonna have Draper AND Shelton not in the ATP Finals unless somehow Shelton will be able to recover by that time IMO...it sucks because this season seems like the transition to the Y2K Gen as the NextGen are pushed out but it seems NextGen may still try to get some players in.

 

Who do you see passing Shelton except for ADM and Musetti? He's 1000 points ahead of FAA, I'd say he's pretty much a lock to end the year in top 8 and Shelton didn't look injured today, just rusty from recovering.

 

Absolutely beautiful result.

 

More talented player won