{"id":735012,"date":"2026-06-13T22:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/735012\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T22:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:16:08","slug":"shelton-fritzs-wins-give-american-mens-tennis-a-first-in-71-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/735012\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelton, Fritz’s wins give American men’s tennis a first in 71 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton meet in Sunday’s Boss Open final in Stuttgart, Germany, it will be a first for U.S. men’s tennis since 1955.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the two top-10 ATP Tour players won their semifinal matches, setting up an all-American final for the first time in 71 years<\/a>, when Hugh Stewart defeated Tony Vincent in the then-clay court tournament.<\/p>\n

Organizers moved to grass courts beginning in 2015<\/a>, making Fritz and Shelton’s success a positive sign heading into 2026 Wimbledon, which begins on June 29.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Fritz, Ben Shelton set for rare all-American Stuttgart final<\/p>\n

Fritz, No. 9 in the ATP rankings, is looking for his second consecutive title at Stuttgart after defeating world No. 11 Alexander Bublik in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, during the semis. Shelton, No. 5, had a more arduous journey, emerging victorious over Sho Shimabukuro early Saturday in a suspended quarterfinal from Friday, then beating world No. 12 Jiri Lehecka in an epic, nearly three-hour three-setter, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, that featured three tiebreakers, including a marathon 30 points to wrap the second set.<\/p>\n

Both will be looking to carry the momentum from Sunday’s Boss Open final forward as they continue prep for Wimbledon. Next, the two American men’s tennis stars will play in the Terra Wortmann Open, their second and final grass court tune up before the year’s third grand slam.<\/p>\n

Fritz, 16-2 on grass since the 2025 Boss Open<\/a>, is seeking his sixth grass court title and is coming off a run to the semifinals at 2025 Wimbledon, losing to Carlos Alcaraz, who will miss this year’s tournament with a wrist injury.<\/p>\n

Shelton has less historical success on the surface, with Sunday’s title match marking his first career grass court final. He is 9-5 all-time in final round matches, winning three consecutive, including a three-setter over Fritz in February 2026 at the Dallas Open, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton meet in Sunday’s Boss Open final in Stuttgart, Germany, it will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-735012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}