Ben Shelton cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Michael Mmoh behind a dominant serve Wednesday night, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Dallas Open.
The third-seeded American lost just three points on his serve while breaking Mmoh early in both sets.
No. 2 seed Tommy Paul of the U.S. played Japan’s Taro Daniel in the round of 16 later Wednesday night.
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Shelton, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last year, went up 3-0 in the first set with a break of Mmoh.
The servers had won the first 18 points of the second set when Shelton won three in a row on Mmoh’s serve for a break point before going on to break for a 3-2 lead.
Shelton broke Mohr again for a 5-3 lead before the hard-serving left-hander closed out the match at love.
It was Shelton’s first match of the week on the campus of SMU, while Mmoh had advanced with a first-round victory.
“I was pretty surprised with the level I played at today,” said Shelton, who is ranked 16th. “It’s always tough when you’re around a tournament site for almost a week and kind of sit around waiting for your match.”
Two seeded players lost in straight sets in early matches.
Fifth-seeded American Christopher Eubanks fell to Australia’s James Duckworth 7-6 (3), 6-4, while Duckworth’s countryman, No. 6 seed Max Purcell, was a 6-4, 6-3 loser against Marcos Giron of the U.S.
Top-seeded Frances Tiafoe has his tournament opener Thursday night in the round of 16 against 19-year-old fellow American Alex Michelsen.
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