#Deadspin #ATP #roundup #Ben #Shelton #shows #love #clay #wins #BMW #title">Deadspin | ATP roundup: Ben Shelton shows love of clay, wins BMW title
Ben Shelton connects with the ball during his second-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Friday, March 6, 2026. Ben Shelton rolled to his second title of the year, winning the BMW Open with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Italy’s Flavio Cobolli at Munich, Germany.
Shelton won 85% of his first-serve points on the clay surface and saved all six break points he faced to win his fifth career title and first since Dallas earlier this year. Shelton showed his form early when he broke Cobolli’s serve twice in the first three games of the match.
With the second set tied 5-5, Shelton broke Cobolli again and won on serve on his first match point. Shelton became the first American man since 2009 to win three ATP 500 titles.
“I have big ambitions for the clay courts,” Shelton said in his post-match interview. “It is a surface I want to get better on each year. It is slowly becoming one of my favorite surfaces to play on.”
Arthur Fils of France held off a late charge from Russia’s Andrey Rublev to record a 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory in the final of the tournament.
Fils won his first title since returning in February after missing eight months because of a back injury.
Fils was well on his way to victory after cruising in the first set and leading 5-2 in the second before Rublev dug in his heels. Rublev broke Fils’ serve to pull within 5-4 in the second set, then staved off one match point to make it 5-5.
Rublev broke serve again to lead 6-5 in the second set before Fils finally regained control and finished off the match in a tiebreak.
“The end of the second set was just about the mental (pressure),” Fils said. “The whole match was a bit tough because I was a bit tight. I played well for a set and a half, but when I had to close, I started to think a little. But I’m very happy with the way I played the tiebreak.”
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![Tough time, but we’ll stay together: Harmanpreet Kaur after second successive T20I defeat India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted her team is going through a tough phase but stressed the need to stick together and bounce back after suffering its second successive defeat to South Africa in the women’s T20 International series here on Sunday.India went down meekly by eight wickets in the second women’s T20I to trail 0-2 in the five-match series here on Sunday.Asked to bat first, India was all out for 147 and SA chased down the target quite comfortably, reaching 148 for 2 in 17.1 overs.“Tough time. We as a team need to stay together,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.READ | Wolvaardt, Luus fifties help South Africa script 8-wicket win over India“Hopefully, we’ll go (to Johannesburg for the third match on April 22) with positive approach. T20 format is like that: it’s about staying together.” Harmanpreet rued that her team could not do well in the death-over batting and powerplay bowling.“I think with bat, we were not able to contribute the way we wanted. Last ten overs of the innings we did not bat well. We need to think how we go about next three matches. When you’re not getting the shots, rotating strike is a key point. We were discussing… we can rotate strike and it can help us through that time. But it’s a time when things didn’t work.“Powerplay, while bowling, is not going our way.”Opener Shafali Verma was the lone bright spot for India with a 38-ball 57, which was studded with seven fours and two sixes.“Shafali been a great talent for us. Hope she’ll continue [the same way] for us,” the skipper said.South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said restricting India to 147 all out was a good job done by her side.“Pretty good catching, one or two put down, but we took one or two good ones as well. After start they had, restricting them was great,” she said.“The area we struggled with last season (death bowling), bowlers identified bowling slower ones into the wicket was helping. It’s something we’ve talked a lot about. Being present on the cricket field. Little things showing on the field.”Published on Apr 19, 2026 #Tough #time #stay #Harmanpreet #Kaur #successive #T20I #defeat](https://i3.wp.com/ss-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/bu83ep/article70881962.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/HARMAN%20KAUR.jpg?ssl=1 "Tough time, but we’ll stay together: Harmanpreet Kaur after second successive T20I defeat India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted her team is going through a tough phase but stressed the need to stick together and bounce back after suffering its second successive defeat to South Africa in the women’s T20 International series here on Sunday.India went down meekly by eight wickets in the second women’s T20I to trail 0-2 in the five-match series here on Sunday.Asked to bat first, India was all out for 147 and SA chased down the target quite comfortably, reaching 148 for 2 in 17.1 overs.“Tough time. We as a team need to stay together,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.READ | Wolvaardt, Luus fifties help South Africa script 8-wicket win over India“Hopefully, we’ll go (to Johannesburg for the third match on April 22) with positive approach. T20 format is like that: it’s about staying together.” Harmanpreet rued that her team could not do well in the death-over batting and powerplay bowling.“I think with bat, we were not able to contribute the way we wanted. Last ten overs of the innings we did not bat well. We need to think how we go about next three matches. When you’re not getting the shots, rotating strike is a key point. We were discussing… we can rotate strike and it can help us through that time. But it’s a time when things didn’t work.“Powerplay, while bowling, is not going our way.”Opener Shafali Verma was the lone bright spot for India with a 38-ball 57, which was studded with seven fours and two sixes.“Shafali been a great talent for us. Hope she’ll continue [the same way] for us,” the skipper said.South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said restricting India to 147 all out was a good job done by her side.“Pretty good catching, one or two put down, but we took one or two good ones as well. After start they had, restricting them was great,” she said.“The area we struggled with last season (death bowling), bowlers identified bowling slower ones into the wicket was helping. It’s something we’ve talked a lot about. Being present on the cricket field. Little things showing on the field.”Published on Apr 19, 2026 #Tough #time #stay #Harmanpreet #Kaur #successive #T20I #defeat")
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