After the match was canceled Monday night due to rain, Andres Martin and Juncheng Shang faced off on the Grandstand court at the Atlanta Open yesterday in the blazing Atlanta heat. But one player was feeling the heat a little more as Shang dispatched Martin 6-1, 6-1.
“Andres is a really tricky opponent,” Shang said after the match. “He moves really well and he’s always fighting. He knows these courts for sure better than me. I’m happy to get it done in two sets just playing good tennis and looking forward to the next one.”
The 23-year-old Georgia Tech player struggled against the higher-ranked 19-year-old and his serve was broken on just his first service where Shang won 40-0 to secure the first game.
The same occurred on the third game of the first set, which put Shang up 3-0 after a competitive second game. Shang also won the fourth game with Martin earning only a single point. Despite Martin storming back in the fifth game with four consecutive aces to earn his first game, he earned only two more points in the set with Shang winning 6-1.
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The second set went similarly, though the games were more competitive. Shang broke Martin’s serve and blanked him in the second game, but most of the games saw both men earn multiple points. Martin’s biggest struggle was keeping the ball inbounds as he repeatedly hit the ball out of the back of the court, allowing Shang to accrue points easily. Shang again won 6-1 to close the match in 55 minutes.
“I was hitting the ball extremely well and the courts are fast — some of you know I like fast courts,” Shang said when asked what he felt gave him an advantage in the match. “So I think it’s good for me and Andres was maybe a little more defensive so I could step in and be aggressive, so I thought that was pretty helpful.”
Next for Shang is Ben Shelton, currently ranked 14th in the world. Shang defeated Shelton in straight sets last year in the Round of 32.
“Ben is obviously a top-20 player, close to top ten,” Shang said. “I think I’ve got a pretty good matchup with him. We’ve been playing since we were kids, super nice guy and a lot of respect for him. I hope it’s gonna be a fun one.”
