Ben Shelton sent packing while Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz advance at Wimbledon

World number five Shelton was upset 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6(9) by 140th-ranked Virtanen in a thrilling first-round contest on Court 2.

Shelton was seeded fourth at Wimbledon, and many felt the powerful left-hander had a great opportunity to make a deep run at the grass-court Grand Slam.

World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz, a two-time Wimbledon champion, withdrew ahead of the tournament due to a wrist injury.

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic - the top two favourites for the title - are both in the top half of the draw.

Shelton was in the bottom half, along with No 2 seed Alexander Zverev and No 6 seed Taylor Fritz.

The 23-year-old American was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, while he has reached the semi-finals at the US Open and the Australian Open.

In his post-match press conference, Shelton was asked if he looked ahead in his draw and whether this had any impact on his performance.

"I'm not a dumbass," said Shelton.

"I have no clue really in terms of specifics. It's not something that I look at. I'm not looking at social media. I'm not looking at my path at all. It's just kind of focusing on the first round, obviously.

"If you're not playing the same day as the guy, you probably know he's not in your half of the draw. Past that I'm usually pretty locked in at these tournaments.

"Who I'm playing opening match, as you can see here, anybody can come out and win on any particular day. The guy played a great match today and that's what happened."

However, Shelton did not shy away from the disappointment he was feeling after the match.

"This is definitely one of the toughest losses of my career, coming here at Wimbledon," said Shelton.

"First time I've lost in the first round here. I came in playing really good tennis. I didn't even think I played a poor match today. Things just didn't go my way. But I'm going to treat this as any other tournament that finishes, and I'll be right back on the practice courts in a couple days.

"I feel like it was an uphill battle all day today. I was pretty off on my serve spot, so I wasn't getting many free points. I was having to grind through a lot of the games.

"[Virtanen] was playing really good and downhill from the baseline⦠The guy came up with some ridiculous stuff in those moments, really good tennis. Sometimes it happens like that."

Shelton added: "There is a lot you can look back on and wish it could have gone differently.

"Obviously for me now, it's just focusing on the US hard-court swing. Obviously, a much earlier exit here than I would have hoped, but the best part of the season for me is coming up."

Elsewhere,  fifth seed Alex de Minaur eased past Roman Andres Burruchaga 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-0, and sixth seed Toylor Fritz made short work of Dusan Lajovic to win 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

READ MORE: Alexander Zverev survives scare but negotiates opening round at Wimbledon