Ben Shelton becomes first American to reach final in Basel since Andre Agassi in 1998

Ben Shelton is through to the third—and equal-biggest—ATP final of his career after edging Arthur Fils in a thrilling second set tie-break in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors Basel, 6-3, 7-6 (9).

The Frenchman had been on a 13-match winning streak at ATP 500 events, which had taken him to titles in Hamburg and Tokyo, and it looked like he might have a shot at keeping that run alive after jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the second set tie-break on Saturday, seemingly on the verge of pushing the match to a third set.

And after Shelton closed in to 5-3, Fils even held five set points in the breaker—three at 6-3, then another two at 7-6 and 9-8.

But the American clawed back every time, eventually closing out the nearly-11-minute tie-break to close the match out in straight sets.

He’s now through to the third ATP final of his career, and he’s 2-0 in the first two, after winning the ATP 500 event in Tokyo last year and the ATP 250 event in Houston—on clay—earlier this year.

And there’s more: Shelton is actually the first American to reach the final in Basel since Andre Agassi in 1998, four years before he was even born. Agassi finished runner-up to Tim Henman that year.

He’s the ninth American overall to reach the Basel final.

AMERICANS TO REACH BASEL FINAL:
John McEnroe [1978 R-Up, 1990 Won, 1991 R-Up]
Brian Gottfried [1979 Won]
Vitas Gerulaitis [1983 Won]
Tim Wilkison [1984 R-Up]
Patrick McEnroe [1994 R-Up]
Jim Courier [1989 Won, 1995 Won]
Pete Sampras [1996 Won]
Andre Agassi [1998 R-Up]
Ben Shelton [2024 TBD]

Awaiting Shelton in the final on Sunday will be huge-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who blasted 17 aces to upset Holger Rune in the second semifinal of the day, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Mpetshi Perricard, who improved to 4-1 in his career against Top 20 players with his victory over the No. 14-ranked Rune, is now through to the second and biggest final of his career, having won the ATP 250 clay-court event on home soil in Lyon earlier this year.

Shelton and Mpetshi Perricard have played once before and it was the 6’ 8” Frenchman who came out on top, defeating the American on the grass of Queen’s Club earlier this year, 6-3, 7-6 (3).