Ben Shelton was the favorite to win the final match at the 2024 Swiss Indoors in Basel, but Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard stopped him.
Both players entered the final match thanks to some red-hot form. The American player bested Tomas Martin Etcheverry with a straightforward win in the Swiss city.
He then disappointed the home crowd by beating Stan Wawrinka, and in the quarter-final of the tournament, Shelton eliminated also the top-seeded Andrey Rublev.
In the semi-final of the tournament, he then outplayed Arthur Fils, just to meet another Frenchman in the final. That Frenchman was Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who was having a run of his life.
The 6'8" tall French player outplayed James Duckworth and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first two rounds before needing three sets and a comeback against Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-final. He then bested former finalist Holger Rune in the semi-final to reach the final of the ATP 500 tournament.
It was clear that both players were in great form and that both would need their serve to win the final. However, Shelton's serve betrayed him already in the third game of the first set.
Despite having two game points, the young American couldn't hold his serve, and it seemed like an impossible task for him to break Mpetshi Perricard's serve to stay in the set.
He didn't even get to a break point as the Frenchman hit seven aces, winning 75% of the points after his first serve. Shelton wasted his chance of winning the set by being broken, and that meant he entered the second set, trailing his opponent.
However, Mpetshi Perricard brought an even better serving to the second set of the match. Once again, Shelton couldn't stay away from offering his opponent a break-point chance, but this time, the American saved it in the fifth game of the second set.
Both were serving exceptionally, which meant that the second set had to be decided in a tie-break. Mpetshi Perricard was fantastic, he hit 15 aces in the second set, which meant hitting an ace with almost every second serve.
He won 91% of points after his first serve, and that was something that Shelton just couldn't keep up with. He didn't get too many chances, and like in the first set, one loss of the serve proved to be detrimental.
Mpetshi Perricard was serving just much better, and he won the tie-break 7-4 to win the match 6-4, 7-6(4), and lift his second Tour-level title and the biggest title of his tennis career.
He also became the lowest-ranked champion of the ATP event in Basel since its inception in 1975, making his win historic. After the triumph, the Frenchman couldn't find words to describe his feelings.
"It’s amazing to win a tournament like that. A 500 for the first time for me. I just can be happy with myself, with what I did today and the past five days. It’s amazing to win here… [Before this] it was a tough month for me, but it’s always good when the victories are there."
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