Shelton books back-to-back Munich finals with clinical Molcan dismissal
Ben Shelton defeated Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday afternoon and will face Italian Flavio Cobolli, the No 4 seed, for the title
Ben Shalton, Munich 2026 | © Imagoi / PsNewz
Ben Shelton, the second seed, defeated Slovak qualifier Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final of the BMW Open by Bitpanda on Saturday in Munich, setting up a championship match against Italian Flavio Cobolli, the No 4 seed.
The American, ranked No 6, was measured and efficient against an opponent who had been one of the stories of the week. Molcan, ranked No 166, had arrived through qualifying and knocked out No 3 seed Alexander Bublik, Daniel Altmaier and Denis Shapovalov before meeting a Shelton in full control of his serve – the one weapon his previous opponents could not match.
Shelton is the first American to reach back-to-back finals on European clay since Jim Courier at Roland-Garros between 1991 and 1993. It is his seventh career final, his fifth at ATP 500 level, and his second of 2026 after his title run in Dallas in February. His clay-court game has developed without fanfare, not in leaps, but steadily, and Saturday’s result was the latest evidence of it.
Shelton : “Cobolli is playing lights-out tennis”
He was candid about the serve that had carried him through the week. “It was garbage in the first set,” Shelton said. “I was going for a lot of my B serves and I was missing a lot of them. I hope to get a better start. I haven’t really had a problem with serving throughout the week. I’ll look to bring my best in the final.”
On facing Cobolli, who earlier stunned defending champion Zverev 6-3, 6-3, Shelton had no illusions about the task ahead: “It won’t be a carbon copy of last year’s final. Flavio Cobolli is playing lights-out tennis. He was really good today.”
He added: “It’s pretty cool. I think it’s my first tournament that I’ve reached back-to-back finals in. I love doing it here early in the clay season. It gives me a lot of confidence.”
Shelton takes a 3-2 head-to-head lead into Sunday’s final, having beaten Cobolli on all three occasions they met in 2025.
