Ben Shelton battles past Denis Shapovalov to reach Dallas final, Taylor Fritz awaits

Ben Shelton battled past Denis Shapovalov in a thrilling two-hour-and-35-minute semifinal at the Dallas Open on Saturday night, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to set up an all-American final against Taylor Fritz at the ATP 500 event.

And it's not just an all-American final—it's a final between the Top 2 American men, with Fritz and Shelton currently sitting at No. 7 and No. 9, respectively, on the ATP rankings.

Shelton was up against it against Shapovalov—not only was the Canadian on an eight-match winning streak in Dallas, having won the indoor event last year, but three of those wins had come against Top 10 players, beating Fritz, Tommy Paul and Casper Ruud en route to the title a year ago.

And for a while it looked like that streak might continue, as he not only won the first set, but brought up four break points in Shelton’s 2-all service game in the second set. Then, after dropping the second set, he had even more chances in the third, holding two break points in Shelton’s 1-all service game, and another far more dangerous break point at 5-all.

But Shelton survived every time, and once he got to the tie-break he took it to another level, winning three straight points from 3-all to bring up triple match point, then closing it out two points later with one last forehand blast up the line.

Total points in the end: Shelton 111, Shapovalov 111.

Awaiting the No. 2-seeded Shelton in the final will be the No. 1-seeded Fritz, who ended the run of 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic in the first semifinal match of the day, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), to reach the milestone 20th ATP final of his career.

Both Fritz and Shelton will be going for the second ATP 500 title of their careers on Sunday—they’ve both won the ATP 500 event in Tokyo once before, Fritz in 2022 and Shelton in 2023. The Dallas title would tie the second-biggest career title for both players, as they’re both Masters 1000 champions, Fritz at Indian Wells in 2022 and Shelton in Toronto last year.

They’re 1-1 in their head-to-head, with Fritz winning in the second round of Indian Wells in 2023, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and Shelton in the semifinals of Toronto last summer, 6-4, 6-3.

This will be the pair's first career indoor clash.