Shelton rallies to reach Munich final, Zverev moves closer to hat-trick

Ben Shelton laid down a clay-court statement on Saturday at the BMW Open by Bitpanda, where he notched a slice of American history.

The 22-year-old dug deep for a 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo to seal his spot in the final at the newly-upgraded ATP 500 event. Shelton trailed an early break in the deciding set, but conjured an inspired response to become the first American man to reach a clay final above ATP 250 level since Andre Agassi won the 2002 ATP Masters 1000 in Rome.

“It’s a big win for me,” said Shelton, who improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Cerundolo. “To get a win on clay against a guy like that gives me a lot of confidence, and to be in an [ATP] 500 final over here in Europe, I’m really happy. I’ve been playing well here, I love the energy here in Munich and I’m going to go for that title tomorrow.”

FINAL BOUND BEN 🙌@BenShelton battles back from a set down to reach his 4⃣th ATP Tour final!@BMWOpen500 | #BMWOpen pic.twitter.com/4yrjwhg2CH

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 19, 2025

With his two-hour, seven-minute victory, Shelton is into his fourth ATP Tour final, and second on clay after triumphing in Houston last year. The two-time tour-level champion arrived in Munich off back-to-back defeats in Miami and Monte-Carlo after reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells, but is now up two spots to No. 13 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, just one off his career high.

“I’m just competing and enjoying myself, that’s one thing that was lacking in Monte-Carlo last week,” said Shelton, who is now 14-12 on clay. “Not everything is straightforward and perfect on the clay. You’re going to get broken more, but you can also break more. Dealing with adversity and adapting makes a great clay-court player and I’m trying to learn day by day.”

Cerundolo raced out of the blocks in a watertight opening set, during which he won 100 per cent (10/10) of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Yet Shelton, who saved three match points in his first-round clash with Borna Gojo on Monday, rallied with intent. The American twice came within two points of losing the match in a dramatic second-set tie-break, but held his nerve to convert his fourth set point.

Shelton bided his time in the deciding set, capitalising on an error-strewn 10th game from Cerundolo to earn a meeting with World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.

Zverev, who won consecutive titles in Munich in 2017-18, marked his return to the championship match with a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory against Fabian Marozsan. The top-seeded German is aiming to equal countryman Philipp Kohlschreiber’s record tally of three Munich titles.

“It’s awesome, the entire week has been amazing,” said Zverev when asked of the tournament’s upgrade to an ATP 500 event. “The spectators have been really enjoying the weather, the new centre court and the new tournament. I’m enjoying it myself and hopefully I can have another great day tomorrow.”

Zverev let slip a break lead in the opening set, but delivered a rock-solid response to seal his one-hour, 31-minute win. The 27-year-old dictated from the baseline and crucially hit just 13 unforced errors to Marozsan’s 28.

“I thought I played quite a good match today,” added Zverev. “I lost focus once in the first set on my serve, but apart from that I thought it was a good match. I thought Fabian played extremely well and I’m just happy to be in the final.”