The top-ranked men’s players are falling like dominoes in the early rounds of Roland-Garros. After World No. 1 Jannik Sinner suffered a stunning second-round upset on Thursday, Ben Shelton joined him a few hours later.
Shelton, the No. 5-ranked player and the top American on the tour, lost in straight sets to Raphael Collignon, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Though Shelton battled against the Belgian, the young American picked up 27 unforced errors and allowed Collignon to get the better of him in all three sets.
After defeating Shelton, Collignon celebrated with the crowd, before later shedding tears over the win.
This is only Collignon’s fourth Grand Slam, with the 24-year-old qualifying for his first major tournament at Wimbledon last year. He will now at least match his best result, a third-round finish at last year’s US Open.
The result marks Shelton’s worst Grand Slam finished since 2023, though the American has never done as well at Roland-Garros. Clay is not Shelton’s best surface; instead, he thrives on the hard surface, making the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in January, and the semifinals the year before. He will, however, hope to bounce back at Wimbledon, where he made the quarterfinals last year.
Shelton joins the growing group of top-ranked men’s players who are crashing out of the tournament early, including Sinner, who was bested by Juan Manuel Cerundolo earlier on Thursday after seemingly succumbing to the extreme heat, and No. 7 Taylor Fritz, who was beaten in the first round by unseeded American Nishesh Basavareddy in four sets on Sunday.
With Carlos Alcaraz also out due to a wrist injury, that leaves the field incredibly wide open moving forward, with players like Novak Djokovic hoping to take advantage of the major absences in the later rounds.