FRISCO, Texas — In a matchup of the world’s highest-ranked American males on Sunday, Ben Shelton defeated top-seeded Taylor Fritz in three units on the Dallas Open, saving three match factors earlier than ending off one other rally for the title.
The No. 2 seed within the ATP Rankings and No. 9 within the ATP Rankings had dropped the primary set in every of the final three rounds of the event, however got here again to beat Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 within the first assembly between prime seeds because the event moved to Dallas in 2022.
Shelton improved to 4-0 within the ATP finals, defeating world No. 7 Fritz after drawing the primary two matches. The 23-year-old gained the title after dropping to Jannik Sinner in straight units within the Australian Open quarter-finals final month.
After saving three match factors to take the third set to 5-5, Shelton had three probabilities to close out Fritz whereas serving for the match. Though Fritz saved the primary two, the 10-time ATP champion was unable to match his opponent by saving the third.
Fritz’s dominant serving in his semi-final win over Marin Cilic carried over into the primary set of the ultimate, the place the 28-year-old gained each tiebreaks in straight units and by no means confronted a break level. Fritz broke Shelton within the left-hander’s first service recreation and gained 12 of his first 13 service factors.
Shelton broke Fritz’s serve late within the second set to take a 5-3 lead and turned the match on its head, and did it once more early within the third.
Fritz broke again at 3-3, however the one double fault of the match for each gamers gave Shelton three break factors at 5-5. Shelton had a second probability to interrupt when Frutis’ forehand went lengthy.
