Carlos Alcaraz praises Ben Shelton and says what he does which is 'unbelievable' after knocking him out of Roland Garros

Carlos Alcaraz has continued his Roland Garros title defence after beating Ben Shelton.

Alcaraz had never lost to Shelton prior to their match in the French capital, and he continued his unbeaten record against the American after beating him in four sets.

Despite reaching his fourth consecutive French Open quarter-final, there were still signs of Alcaraz making the same mistakes he has been criticised for in previous matches.

However, after the match Alcaraz just wanted to wax lyrical about his opponent, rather than focus on his own game.

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Carlos Alcaraz raves about Ben Shelton and praises his ‘unbelievable’ serve

After beating Shelton on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Spaniard spoke to his compatriot Alex Corretja, who has predicted Alcaraz’s French Open, in the on-court interview.

In this interview, Alcaraz was asked about Shelton, who has achieved his best result at the French Open this year by reaching the last-16.

When responding to this question, Alcaraz heaped praise on Shelton and particularly highlighted how good his serve is.

“We both have huge respect for each other,” said Alcaraz. “Every time we face each other we brought the level to the top. We saw really good tennis. We entertained the people. He is a really powerful player and he can make any shot. Serves at 230kmph, it’s unbelievable.

“We played really great tennis, really complete. Drop shots, coming to the net, big shots, forehands and serves. We stayed there during the whole match.

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“For me it’s great having Ben around. I think it’s great energy for tennis and the people, I love watching him play so it’s great. I just appreciate the moment that I have shared with him today.”

In terms of the official ATP records, Shelton has the ninth fastest serve in history of 241.4 km/h, that he hit at Indian Wells earlier this year.

Carlos Alcaraz explains why he was angry during his match with Ben Shelton

Although Alcaraz was able to beat Shelton, 7-6(8) 6-3 4-6 6-4, there were some moments of frustration for the world number two.

The 22-year-old hit the same number of winners as unforced errors (43) and explained why he was getting frustrated with himself at points during the match.

“Honestly, today I fought against myself and my mind,” Alcaraz admitted. “I just tried to calm myself in some moments. I was mad, I was angry with myself, talking not very good things let’s say that.

“I am just really happy that I didn’t let those thoughts play against me, so I tried to calm myself in those moments I was down and tried to keep going that’s what I try.”

Alcaraz was able to overcome those frustrating moments and has now moved to within three matches of retaining his French Open title.

Next up for Alcaraz will be Tommy Paul, who made American tennis history after reaching the French Open quarter-finals.

This will be a seventh meeting between the pair, with Alcaraz leading the head-to-head against Paul after winning four of their six previous matches, including the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics that were held on the clay of Roland Garros.

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