Ben Shelton, the second seed, has secured his spot in the final of the Dallas Open after defeating seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov in the semifinal round. Following his impressive performance against the Canadian star, the World No. 9 has reflected on the competitive mindset he has adopted and on clashing with the World No. 7, Taylor Fritz in the title match.
Ben Shelton Assesses His Challenges Against Taylor Fritzfor the Dallas Open Final
In Dallas, Shelton has delivered dominant performances, winning his round of 32 against Gabriel Diallo in straight sets. He then surpassed veteran star Adrian Mannarino in the round of 16, and in the quarterfinal, he faced Miomir Kecmanović. Against the former World No. 27 Serbian player, Shelton lost the first set but came back to clinch the last two.
In his semifinal match, the Georgia native defeated defending champion Shapovalov, once again losing the first set and securing the last two, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). After the win, Shelton had mentioned considering Shapovalov, “It was a gritty win. A lot of credit to Denis, the way he’s playing on this court. It’s a freight train coming at you.”
In the final of the indoor hard-court ATP 500 Dallas Open tournament, Shelton is all set to face the top seed, Fritz. During the on-court post-match interview, according to TennisTV, the 23-year-old revealed that he has adopted a champion’s mentality and enters each tournament aiming to take home the title.
Furthermore, he shared his views on Fritz, highlighting that he is one of the top players in the world and is in dominant form, with notable serving skills, and that he is looking forward to the final with confidence and understanding.
He mentioned, “No, it’s great, you know, I’ve really made a concerted effort to show up to each tournament this year with the mindset that I want to win it, that I’m there each and every match, putting myself in the position that I need to to compete at the highest level. And so being in the finals, playing against a top 10 guywho’s very informed, big serve, good on this court is a great test, a massive test, and exactly where I want to be.”
Shelton and Fritz will be clashing for the third time in their career, with the former winning their Toronto 2025 semifinal clash and the latter winning their Indian Wells Open round of 64 match in 2023.
