Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong needs to be flawless to beat Shelton at Miami Open, coach says.
Coleman Wong Chak-lam needs to be flawless on the first serve and “a goalkeeper” when receiving if he stands any chance of beating world No 14 Ben Shelton in the Miami Open on Saturday, his coach said. Hong Kong’s top player made history on Thursday when he became the first from the city to win a match at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, beating world No 82 Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-3. The 20-year-old Wong’s coach, James Allemby said that victory had been built on a series of lessons learned over a tough start to the 2025 season. “This is our sixth week now in a row, and we’ve made a point of learning lessons from each week and then building on those and not falling into the same traps,” Allemby said. “We’ve been pretty systematic in reinforcing those every day.”
Wong will face Shelton in the round of 64 on centre court at 11pm, Hong Kong time.
Shelton, who is the son of former American tennis player Bryan Shelton, stands at 6ft 4in and weighs 88kg. He uses his power and height to his advantage, hitting serves that can reach more than 240km per hour.
“Everyone knows that Shelton’s got a bomb of a serve and he’s got a really good second and if the forehand sits, he’s going to crunch it and he’s going to be on top of the net any chance he gets,” Allemby said.
“It’s going to come down to Coleman serving well on first and using it as a weapon … He has to be a goalkeeper when receiving the first serve, and as soon as he’s got a chance in the rally, he has to go without feeling that he has to redline, but with that sustainability and quality that he’s been using the past couple weeks.” Wong endured a tough start to the season, starting with a 7-6, 6-4 loss against then-world No 50 Jerry Shang Juncheng. A week later, he qualified for the first round of the Australian Open after beating Dmitry Popko over three sets, only to be drawn against world No 60 and ATP Next Gen Finals champion, Joao Fonseca.
At the Bangkok Open in January, Wong went out to eventual winner Brandon Holt in the second round. Since February, he has travelled from Thailand to Bahrain, the United Kingdom and the United States, playing nine singles matches and winning four on the lower tier Challenger Tour. Last week though he beat Briton’s Billy Harris 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 at the Cap Cana Challenger in the Dominican Republic, where Allemby said “everything sort of took shape”.
It was close to three hours in heat where he looked so solid, his level was so high, and it was just so sustainable. “In other matches, he would play out of his skin, but the question would be, ‘Can he do it day after day?’ And back then, the answer was no because he was playing with such low margins. “Now he’s playing with a little bit more height over the net, his quality with the ball is a little bit better and he’s hitting into bigger spots of the court with more confidence. It’s taking shape little by little, and it’s nice to see payoffs.”
Wong again went out to the eventual winner, losing 6-2, 7-6 to American Aleksandar Kovacevic. “Credit to Coleman this year for his perspective on things, because he’s had a rough ride of it,” Allemby said. “One of the benefits of having faced so many tough guys this year is that he’s really had to search beyond his comfort zone, and there’s been no other choice but to sink or swim.”