Ben Shelton, the world No. 5, has been eliminated from the 2026 Wimbledon Championships in the first round. Shelton lost a grinding match to Otto Virtanen in five sets on Tuesday.
Virtanen battled his way into the draw by earning one of the qualifiers spots with three wins. Going up against the tournament No. 4 seed in the opening round, Virtanen was a +303 underdog.
Virtanen took the first set, immediately putting Shelton in an uncomfortable position. Shelton was able to come back and win the second set 6-3. The third set was a grind that went to tiebreak, where Shelton pulled out a 10-8 win.
Seemingly having grabbed control of the match, Shelton melted down in the fourth set, with Virtanen easing his way to a 6-2 set win to even things up.
The back-and-forth play continued in the final set, with neither man fully grabbing control and each giving up a break before they again went to tiebreak. This time, it was Virtanen who was able to outlast the sport's top-ranked American man, winning the tiebreak 11-9, and with it, the match.
Otto Virtanen upsets No. 4 Ben Shelton in the first round at Wimbledon 😳 pic.twitter.com/2tkCOQNdFp
— ESPN (@espn) June 30, 2026
Interestingly, Shelton (41) had fewer unforced errors than Virtanen (49), but his worst moments came at the worst times, including a few that ultimately decided the final tiebreak.
Shelton reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2025, leading to some believing this year could see an even deeper run. Instead, Shelton is out in the first round, and Virtanen is an early Cinderella story in the draw.
