Tommy Paul defeated fellow American Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to achieve the Dallas Open last, the place he’ll attempt to seize his second ATP Tour title.
World quantity 15 Paul gained 27-of-37 first-serve factors (73%) and 14-of-22 on his second serve (64%) to eradicate Sixteenth-ranked Shelton after 79 minutes.
“These courts helped me a bit bit,” Paul mentioned. “They don’t seem to be leaping fairly as excessive as a few of the different courts we have performed on. Stored the ball in my strike zone a bit bit extra.
“Did not serve in addition to I might have preferred to however one way or the other squeaked out plenty of these service video games in order that was big.”
Paul snapped a six-match shedding streak in opposition to top-20 opponents to achieve his fourth profession ATP last.
“If I get damaged I really feel just like the set is over so it is excessive stress the entire match with him,” Paul mentioned.
Paul superior to Sunday’s championship match in opposition to the winner of a later semi-final between American Marcos Giron and French fourth seed Adrian Mannarino.
Paul, who gained his solely ATP title at Stockholm in 2021, misplaced his solely different tour finals final 12 months at Acapulco and Eastbourne after a run to his first Grand Slam semi-final within the 2023 Australian Open.
In his first ATP semi-final since final 12 months at Toronto, Paul dispatched the 21-year-old left-hander to stage his document in opposition to Shelton at 2-2.
Paul beat Shelton in final 12 months’s Australian Open quarter-finals however misplaced to him within the fourth spherical finally 12 months’s US Open in addition to in Tokyo, the place Shelton took his first ATP title final October.
Paul broke for a 3-2 lead and reeled off 4 video games in succession to seize the opening set.
Within the second set, Shelton despatched a backhand volley broad to give up a break and provides Paul a 2-1 edge. They each held serve from there till the tip.
World quantity 67 Giron, who misplaced his solely ATP last in 2022 at San Diego, upset US high seed Frances Tiafoe within the quarter-finals.
World quantity 17 Mannarino, a winner in his previous three ATP finals, seeks his sixth tour title after lifting trophies at Rosmalen in 2019, Winston-Salem in 2022 and final 12 months at Newport, Astana and Sofia.
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