Ben Shelton’s Munich win signals new threat on ATP Tour

Ben Shelton claimed the biggest clay-court title of his career in Munich, becoming the first American to win a clay event above the ATP 250 level since Andre Agassi at the 2002 Italian Open.

Shelton beat Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-5 in the final and is now closing in on a place inside the top 10 of the ATP rankings.

The 21-year-old played some of his best tennis during the week and has already collected two titles this season, adding to his Dallas Open triumph from February.

Shelton was solid throughout but especially impressive at net. He lost just three points from 21 approaches during a match that lasted just one hour and 29 minutes.

Andy Roddick thinks Ben Shelton’s win in Munich will get him noticed

Roddick spoke about Shelton’s performance in Munich, which came after a difficult run during the Sunshine Double.

“Ben Shelton coming through. First American man since 2002 to win a [ATP] 500 event or better,” Roddick said.

“Ben looked great.

“I like the fact that he went over there before Madrid.

“We’re talking about the Sunshine Double and the first match out of the gate in Houston when you switch surfaces. Obviously, if you like hard courts and you lose in the Sunshine Double, the solution is to just go win in Munich!”

Roddick highlighted why it was such a strong showing from Shelton on German clay.

Shelton will now look to carry his good form into Madrid, with Roddick keen to see how he fares at an event that should suit his game more than Indian Wells did earlier this year.

Ben Shelton’s opening opponent for the Madrid Open

With Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic skipping the event, Shelton goes into the Madrid Open as the fourth seed.

Shelton has a bye into the second round, where he’ll face either Matteo Berrettini or Raphael Collignon.

He’ll be favoured to win that one and is likely to be expected to get past Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round as well. But things could get tougher in the last 16.

That’s where he might come up against Valentin Vacherot, who made headlines earlier this month by reaching the semi-finals of his home tournament in Monaco.

Vacherot has built on his Shanghai Masters title, continuing to perform at a high level. Shelton will need to be sharp if he wants to book a spot in the quarter-finals.

If he gets there, potential matchups with Italians Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner could follow in the quarters and semis.

Shelton would probably go into both those matches as an underdog, just as he would if he faced Alexander Zverev in a possible final. But with momentum from his Munich title win behind him, anything could happen for Shelton in Madrid.

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