Ben Shelton opened his Munich Open campaign Monday with a three-set win over fellow American Emilio Nava, rallying from a break down in the deciding set to advance 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3.
The second-seeded Shelton, ranked world number six, needed two hours of resilience to get past Nava on the Bavarian red dirt. The 23-year-old left-hander will next meet the winner of Alexander Blockx’s match with Yannick Hanfmann.
The victory kept Shelton perfect in 500-level events this year, improving his record to six wins from six outings. It also extended a promising run on clay for a player trying to go one better than his 2025 Munich title match, when he lost to Alexander Zverev.
Shelton said the match carried a personal edge because Nava is one of his closest friends on tour. He also said he was pleased to see Nava’s ranking climb and expressed concern that the 112th-ranked American was not at full strength on Monday.
That sympathy did not soften the result. Shelton had to absorb a lost second set before tightening his game in the third, a reminder that even at an event where he arrived with a spotless 6-0 record in 500-level play, the margins on clay can still turn quickly.
Zverev, the top seed in this edition of the tournament, opens against Miomir Kecmanovic, and the winner will face Gabriel Diallo in the round of 16. Diallo beat Vitaliy Sachko 6-1, 6-2, Francisco Cerundolo beat Sumit Nagal 6-2, 6-2, and Arthur Rinderknech defeated Alex Michelsen in straight sets.
For Shelton, the first hurdle is already cleared. The next one will show whether Monday’s comeback was a clean start or the first test of a deeper run toward a career-first clay-court title.