He lived up to his status. In a duel of extremes in the red group against the lowest ranked player in this Masters Next Gen Abdullah Shelbayh, 185th in the world invited by the organization, Luca Van Assche ensured the essential for his entry into the competition: victory. Like his compatriot Arthur Fils, the 70th in the ATP did not have an easy task but ended up winning in four sets (4-3, 3-4, 4-1, 4-1 ) and almost two hours of play (1h54 precisely) against the Jordanian who put up fierce resistance in Jeddah.
Shelbayh could very well have led two sets to nothing in this part, as he dictated the tempo at first. The left-hander trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy showed a lot of good things on the court, starting with a great touch of the ball in well-controlled cushioned-lob sequences, as well as beautiful cross-court backhand shots. But his great mistake was to tense up during important moments. The representative of the Arab world in this tournament will have only converted two of his… 17 break points.
Van Assche gradually imposed his sector
At the same time, Van Assche managed to delight the opposing team 5 times in 10 opportunities. And the Frenchman above all tactically mastered the second part of the match. Taking his opponent into long arm wrestling from the baseline, he then neutralized his creativity. He was also able to serve well on points that counted double, while he was in great difficulty on his second balls (only 26% success).
This victory allows Van Assche to take provisional first place in the red group and to have the opportunity to qualify for the final four on the second day, like Arthur Fils. The American Alex Michelsen and the Serbian Hamad Medjedovic face off to close this opening Tuesday in Saudi Arabia: the winner will challenge Van Assche on Wednesday.