Munich champ Ben Shelton: I have big ambitions on clay

Ben Shelton captured the title of the 2026 BMW Open by Bitpanda, defeating fourth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final.

In front of packed stands on Center Court at the MTTC Iphitos, Shelton set the tone early, racing to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Cobolli improved as the match progressed, but the world No. 6 remained rock solid on serve, saving all six break points he faced and converting three of his nine opportunities to seal victory in one hour and 30 minutes.

“I came out at a really high level,” said Shelton, who earned his fifth career title and third at ATP 500 level following Tokyo in 2023 and Dallas earlier this year.

“I have done that before against him, but the toughest thing is maintaining it, as he raises his level. I was able to do that in the second set, hanging in there when he played some great tennis, and I came through to win it in straight sets.

“I am happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on, and I am pleased with the work my team put in here.”

Shelton received a prize cheque of €478,935, as well as a brand-new BMW iX3 and traditional Bavarian Lederhosen. He also collected 500 ATP Ranking points.

“The car is great. It might be difficult to get it back to Florida, where I live,” Shelton said with a smile.

The Atlanta native has now claimed the biggest clay-court title by an American man since Andre Agassi won the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome in 2002 - the year Shelton was born.

“It’s huge. I have big ambitions on clay - a surface I want to keep improving on each year. It has become one of my favourite surfaces to play on.

“It’s a short season and some of the Americans choose not to play every event. But we had two guys in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. Success on clay is coming back. I am looking forward to being part of this progression of U.S. men’s tennis on clay. On the women’s side, they have a lockdown as they won the French last year. We as the men have some more to do but we are heading into the right direction. This is just one step in a long swing and let’s see what happens.”

And how will he celebrate? “We’ll go to a restaurant we visited a couple of times this week and enjoy the moment before flying to Madrid,” Shelton concluded.