Ben Shelton secured his fifth Tour title with a decisive 6-2, 7-5 victory over Flavio Cobolli, admitting that clay is gradually becoming one of his preferred surfaces. Shelton's win marked a revenge of sorts, following his loss to Alexander Zverev in the final the previous year.

This triumph also made him the first American in series history to claim three ATP 500 titles. As Roland Garros approaches, Shelton expressed his ambitions on clay, having been knocked out in the round of 16 last year by Carlos Alcaraz. "I started at a very high level, which I've done before against him," Shelton said. "The challenge is maintaining that level when he raises his game.

I managed to do that in the second set, staying strong when he played exceptional tennis, and ultimately won in straight sets. I'm pleased with my performance this week, as I improved with each passing day, and I'm grateful for the work my team and I put in. My goal is to get better on clay each year, and it's slowly becoming a surface I enjoy playing on.

This is just the beginning of a long journey, and we'll see what the future holds." The match's tone was set from the start, with Shelton breaking Cobolli's serve in the first game and then defending six break points in his first service game. Cobolli, who had played one of his best matches the day before to defeat Zverev and reach his second Tour final this year, couldn't replicate that finesse in the final. Shelton's victory also made him the first American since Andre Agassi in 2002 to win a clay title above the ATP 250 level, having won his first clay title in Houston in 2024. In another match, Arthur Fils overcame Andrey Rublev 6-2, 7-6 (2) to claim his first title since 2024 at the Barcelona Open on Sunday.

Fils, who returned to action in February after nearly eight months out due to injury, secured his fourth ATP title with the win. He quickly took the first set in just 31 minutes, but failed to capitalize on seven break points as Rublev stayed alive in the match at 2-2 in the second set.

Fils eventually secured the crucial break to make it 4-2, but squandered a chance to win when three consecutive errors gifted Rublev a break back while leading 5-3. Rublev fought back to rescue three match points and hold, then broke for a 6-5 lead, but Fils drew level and forced a decisive tiebreak, where he prevailed 7-2.