BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Ben Shelton beat his doubles partner Arthur Fils at the Swiss Indoors on Saturday and will face another Frenchman, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, in the final.
No. 6-seeded Shelton defeated No. 7 Fils 6-3, 7-6 (9), recovering from 6-3 down in the tiebreak of their semifinal.
“I served really well, and I had to because I know what Arthur is capable of,” Shelton said on court. “The goal was to let him know I got clean hits on the ball as much as possible, and I executed really well. I’m not sure how I pulled that tiebreak out in the second set.”
Fils won their quarterfinal in Tokyo a month ago, but Shelton’s run this week has guaranteed the American’s return to the top 20 from No. 23 in the rankings update on Monday.
Mpetshi Perricard is set to improve his career-high 37th ranking after reaching his second final of a breakthrough year.
The unseeded Mpetshi Perricard upset No. 4-seeded Holger Rune 7-6 (6), 6-4 by serving 17 aces. He’s yet to lose serve in Basel.
“Inside of me there was a lot of emotion, but I tried to calm it down,” he said. “It’s nice to be in the final and I hope to get the win.”
Mpetshi Perricard started the year ranked 200, won a bunch of challenger titles, and won his first ATP-level title in Lyon in May.
He beat Shelton in their only previous meeting in June on grass at Queen’s Club.
___
AP tennis:
