Ben Shelton stunned at Wimbledon with 1st-round loss to Finnish qualifier

LONDON -- Ben Shelton wasted a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker against qualifier Otto Virtanen at Wimbledon in what the fourth-seeded American called "one of the toughest losses of my career."

Shelton was eliminated 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9) on Tuesday, losing in the first round at the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time in his young career.

The 23-year-old Shelton led 8-5 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker against his 140th-ranked opponent and had match point at 9-8 but made an unforced error and then lost the next two points.

"I thought I put myself in a great position to win at the end. He came up with the goods," said Shelton, who reached the quarterfinals last year at the All England Club.