Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers and for the second time in a final this season when they battle for the BOSS Open title on Sunday. Shelton leads the head-to-head series 2-1 after saving three championship points to defeat Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the Dallas ATP 500.
Unsurprisingly, grass has been just what the doctor ordered for both Americans on the heels of the clay-court swing. Dealing with knee tendinitis, Fritz played only one clay-court match — losing it to Nishesh Basavareddy at the French Open. Shelton won the Munich title but then lost early in Madrid, Rome, Hamburg, and Roland Garros.
It has all turned around for Fritz on his grass-court stomping grounds. The ninth-ranked American has won half of his 10 ATP titles on this surface and is one victory away from another after beating Martin Landaluce, Mattia Bellucci, and Alexander Bublik in Stuttgart.
Shelton took the scenic route to this final — and that’s an understatement. The fifth-ranked American came back from a set down in all three of his previous matches against Marcos Giron, Sho Shimabukuro, and Jiri Lehecka. Shelton saved two match points in the semis before outlasting Lehecka 6-7(4), 7-6(14), 7-6(6) in two hours and 52 minutes.
The 23-year-old logged four hours of court time on Saturday, as he preceded the thriller against Lehecka by taking the final two sets against Shimabukuro in that darkness-delayed contest. Fritz, on the other hand, played just 20 total games on Saturday — he was already in the semis and then cruised past Bublik 6-4, 6-4.
Shelton is the top seed and will remain the highest-ranked American regardless on Sunday’s result, but the advantages are with Fritz in this matchup.
Pick: Fritz in 3