Coming into Tuesday, Dominic Thiem had played 217 tour-level matches on clay. Ben Shelton had contested zero.
Both players were among the group advancing at the Millennium Estoril Open in setting an intriguing second-round meeting.
For Thiem, he’ll hope this is the start of a new trend after coming in with a 1-8 record overall this season that includes three successive losses on clay during February's Golden Swing in South America. The holder of 10 ATP clay-court crowns, the 29-year-old battled back to defeat countryman Sebastian Ofner, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“Never easy to plays someone you also like off the court and you practice a lot the whole offseason together. There are no surprises between us,” Thiem said in an on-court interview.
The 111th-ranked Thiem was down a set and a break before digging in to scrape past the world No. 122 after two hours and five minutes. Six double faults and a five for 16 success rate on break points will be among the areas Thiem will look to improve upon against the eighth-seeded Shelton come Thursday.