FRISCO, Texas — In a matchup of the world’s highest-ranked American men on Sunday, Ben Shelton defeated top-seeded Taylor Fritz in three sets at the Dallas Open, saving three match points before finishing off another rally for the title.
The No. 2 seed in the ATP Rankings and No. 9 in the ATP Rankings had dropped the first set in each of the last three rounds of the tournament, but came back to beat Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first meeting between top seeds since the tournament moved to Dallas in 2022.
Shelton improved to 4-0 in the ATP finals, defeating world No. 7 Fritz after drawing the first two matches. The 23-year-old won the title after losing to Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the Australian Open quarter-finals last month.
After saving three match points to take the third set to 5-5, Shelton had three chances to shut out Fritz while serving for the match. Although Fritz saved the first two, the 10-time ATP champion was unable to match his opponent by saving the third.
“This was a crazy game to be a part of,” Shelton said. I thought the level was amazing.
Fritz’s dominant serving in his semi-final win over Marin Cilic carried over into the first set of the final, where the 28-year-old won both tiebreaks in straight sets and never faced a break point. Fritz broke Shelton in the left-hander’s first service game and won 12 of his first 13 service points.
Shelton broke Fritz’s serve late in the second set to take a 5-3 lead and turned the match on its head, and did it again early in the third.
Fritz had three chances to end the match when he broke back at 3-3 and led 5-4 on Shelton’s serve. Shelton brought it to deuce with an overhead smash from the net and a backhand winner that caught Fritz’s reverse.
On Fritz’s final match point, Shelton volleyed back to deuce and continued to hold serve with a backhand volley into the open court, with both players on net.
“I think I would be more upset if I had three match points and was told I lost,” Fritz said. “It hurts, but I don’t have too many regrets about playing on match point, so I feel like it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.”
A double fault by Fritz (the only fault of the match for both players) gave Shelton three break points at 5-5. Shelton had a second break chance when Fritz’s forehand went long.
An ace on his second serve gave Shelton three match points, and Fritz’s rushing return attempt on Shelton’s approach shot fell short, allowing Shelton to convert his second.
