Ben Shelton wins the Monaco title, becoming the first American since Agassi to do so…

● Second seed becomes first American to win three ATP 500 crowns (since 2009)

Ben Shelton captured his fifth ATP Tour title and second on clay on Sunday at the BMW Open by Bitpanda in Munich, where he overcame fourth-seeded Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-5.

The second seed lost to Alexander Zverev in the championship match at the ATP 500 event 12 months ago but ensured history would not repeat itself against world number 16 Cobolli by recording his first Top 20 victory on clay.

“I came out at a really high level and I’ve done that against him before,” Shelton said in his on-court interview.

“The most difficult thing is to maintain it while he raises his level. I managed to do that in the second set and played excellent tennis. I’m happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on and I’m happy with the work that the team and I did.”

Shelton, clay court champion in Houston in 2024, is the first American to win a title on a surface above the ATP 250 level since Agassi in Rome in 2002.

The 23-year-old now leads Cobolli 4-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I have big ambitions for clay courts,” Shelton added. “It’s a surface I want to improve on every year. It’s slowly becoming one of my favorite surfaces to play on.”

Shelton is the first American in the series’ history (since 2009) to win three ATP 500 titles, while he is only the fifth American to win a tour-level crown on clay outside the United States this century.

The 23-year-old joins Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Sam Querrey and Sebastian Korda.

Shelton broke Cobolli’s serve in the first game and then fended off six break points in his first service game, setting the tone from the start.

Italian Cobolli beat Zverev in the semifinals and raised the level in the second set, but failed to damage Shelton’s delivery.

2027: Governor Sule did not consult me ​​on the choice of successor: Al-Makura

The American, who hasn’t suffered another break point since that opening match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, recovered from 0/30 on serve at 4-5 and then broke Cobolli again when the fourth seed committed a costly double fault.

In an entertaining match, Shelton demonstrated his agility with a stunning overhead shot and an absurd rebound from the sideline in the same match at 1-5 in the first set.

After sealing the victory in 90 minutes, Shelton celebrated with his team on the sideline.

Shelton claimed victories in three sets against Emilio Nava and Joao Fonseca in Monaco, while overcoming Alexander Blockx and Alex Molcan in straight sets.

The 23-year-old is number 6 in the PIF ATP Live rankings, just 30 points behind world number 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime. [ATP]

Related