Defending champ Shelton, Paul & Nakashima earn Tokyo wins

Defending champion Ben Shelton made a winning start in his bid to retain his Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships title on Thursday, when he clawed past big-serving American Reilly Opelka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The 21-year-old American captured his maiden tour-level trophy 12 months ago at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo and improved throughout against Opelka to reach the second round at this year’s event after one hour and 47 minutes.

"I have a lot of love for this tournament and this city," Shelton said on his title defence. "I have a lot of confidence. Being here and knowing the situations I have come through in this exact stadium, in the most important moments."

Big Ben energy in Tokyo ?@japanopentennis | #kinoshitajotennis pic.twitter.com/WHOLi8VIei

After levelling the match, the eighth seed fired 11 winners and did not face a break point in the third set to earn his second consecutive win, having defeated Daniil Medvedev at the Laver Cup in Berlin.

"I think it was a tough start. I felt like I was struggling a little bit and getting rhythm," Shelton said. "I thought Reilly was serving and returning extremely well and that made things difficult. When you play someone like Reilly, who can take the racquet out of your hand, it is never going to be an easy match. I am happy with the way I competed. Breaking serve multiple times gives me a lot of confidence."

Shelton now leads Opelka 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series after beating the former Top 20 star en route to the quarter-finals in Cincinnati earlier this year. Shelton will next face Argentine Mariano Navone.

Shelton’s countryman, Tommy Paul, also advanced at the hard-court event in Japan. The fifth seed defeated Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-2 to improve to 15-3 in opening-round matches in 2024.

The 27-year-old arrives in Tokyo 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and will be aiming for a deep run to boost his Nitto ATP Finals chances. Paul is currently 520 points behind eighth-placed Alex de Minaur, who occupies the final qualification spot. De Minaur is not competing this week due to injury.

Paul, who is chasing his third title of the season, will next play Tomas Machac after the Czech beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5.

In an all-American clash Brandon Nakashima continued his impressive recent form with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph against US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe.

The former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Nakashima has now earned seven Top 20 wins this year with five coming since August. Nakashima, who arrived in Tokyo off the back of a semi-final showing in Chengdu, plays Ugo Humbert in the second round.

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