Moutet, Michelsen advance at ATP 250

#NextGenATP American Learner Tien earned his third Top 10 win on Wednesday at the Mallorca Championships presented by ecotrans Group, where he downed countryman and top seed Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6(2) to reach the quarter-finals.

The 19-year-old committed 16 fewer unforced errors than Shelton (22-38) and rallied from 1-4 in the second set to eventually triumph after one hour and 41 minutes in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Tien, who defeated Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev earlier this year, is the youngest player to defeat a Top-10 star on grass since Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Queen’s Club in 2019. Into his third tour-level quarter-final, Tien will next meet Corentin Moutet at the ATP 250 grass-court event.

The dynamic Frenchman downed Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 7-6(3), 7-6(3) to advance to his first quarter-final of the season. Last week, Moutet upset Taylor Fritz at the HSBC Championships in London.

In other action, Tien’s good friend Alex Michelsen defeated Brandon Holt 6-4, 6-4. Michelsen, who fell to Tien in the semi-finals at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, takes on Bernard Tomic or Roberto Bautista Agut in the last eight in Mallorca.