2 hours ago
American apical seed Ben Shelton hit countryman and defending champion Taylor Fritz 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to triumph nan Stuttgart Open ATP title connected Sunday.
Grass tribunal master Fritz had ne'er antecedently mislaid a last connected nan surface. Shelton collapsed nan 2nd seed erstwhile successful nan opening group and erstwhile successful nan 3rd to declare triumph successful 1 hr 48 minutes.
The 23-year-old, who played almost 5 hours of tennis connected Saturday, looked connected nan ropes astatine times but fought disconnected 9 of Fritz’s 11 break points.
The title was nan 3rd for Shelton, nan world No 5. He won February’s Dallas Open, wherever he besides hit nan ninth-ranked Fritz, and nan Munich Open successful April.
In doing so, Shelton became nan 4th man this decade to triumph titles connected each 3 surfaces – hard, clay and writer – successful 1 play aft Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Bublik and Novak Djokovic.
“I’m beautiful exhausted but to play nan measurement I did, against nan value of opponents I played, successful very tight matches – and getting a triumph coming complete 1 of nan champion writer tribunal players successful nan world is simply a immense boost for my confidence,” Shelton said.
Fritz praised Shelton aft his “insane schedule this week”, adding that “it speaks to nan benignant of subordinate he is – an astonishing competitor”.
Shelton made Sunday’s last aft a physically demanding Saturday. He vanished disconnected a delayed quarter-final earlier earlier battling to hit Jiri Lehecka successful almost 3 hours successful nan afternoon.
Shelton had mislaid nan first group successful each of his 3 erstwhile matches astatine nan tourney but took nan opener pinch a powerful and controlled performance. The miles successful nan younger American’s legs began to show, however, and Fritz romped done nan 2nd set, losing conscionable 1 constituent connected his serve. Fritz was again ascendant connected his service successful nan last group but Shelton held firm, earlier breaking service successful nan second-from-last crippled and past serving for nan match.
“Taylor was wholly unplayable for parts of nan lucifer today,” Shelton said, but added that his capacity “gives maine a batch of dream going into Halle and Wimbledon”.
Wimbledon originates connected 29 June.
