American top seed Ben Shelton beat countryman and defending champion Taylor Fritz 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to win the Stuttgart Open ATP title on Sunday.
Grass court specialist Fritz had never previously lost a final on the surface. Shelton broke the second seed once in the opening set and once in the third to claim victory in 1 hour 48 minutes.
The 23-year-old, who played almost five hours of tennis on Saturday, looked on the ropes at times but fought off nine of Fritz’s 11 break points.
The title was the third for Shelton, the world No 5. He won February’s Dallas Open, where he also beat the ninth-ranked Fritz, and the Munich Open in April.
In doing so, Shelton became the fourth man this decade to win titles on all three surfaces – hard, clay and grass – in one season after Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Bublik and Novak Djokovic.
“I’m pretty exhausted but to play the way I did, against the quality of opponents I played, in very tight matches – and getting a win today over one of the best grass court players in the world is a huge boost for my confidence,” Shelton said.
Fritz praised Shelton after his “insane schedule this week”, adding that “it speaks to the kind of player he is – an amazing competitor”.
Shelton made Sunday’s final after a physically demanding Saturday. He finished off a delayed quarter-final earlier before battling to beat Jiri Lehecka in almost three hours in the afternoon.
Shelton had lost the first set in each of his three previous matches at the tournament but took the opener with a powerful and controlled performance. The miles in the younger American’s legs began to show, however, and Fritz romped through the second set, losing just one point on his serve. Fritz was again dominant on his serve in the final set but Shelton held firm, before breaking serve in the second-from-last game and then serving for the match.
“Taylor was completely unplayable for parts of the match today,” Shelton said, but added that his performance “gives me a lot of hope going into Halle and Wimbledon”.
Wimbledon begins on 29 June.
