Ben Shelton is back in another Munich final, and this time he gets Flavio Cobolli, the player who knocked out home favorite Alexander Zverev and turned the bracket on its head.
Shelton, the second seed, will play for the 2026 ATP Munich Open title on Sunday after beating Emilio Nava, Alexander Blockx, Joao Fonseca and Alex Molcan. His serve has been firing all week, a sharp change from the awful form he brought into the tournament, and the run has given him the confidence boost he badly needed with the French Open approaching. Last year, Shelton reached the Munich final and lost to Zverev.
Cobolli earned his place with a straight-sets semifinal win over Zverev, ending the defending champion's bid in front of the home crowd. The Italian will be chasing his fourth ATP title, and he has already won once in Germany, taking a title in Hamburg last season. Shelton has won the last three meetings between the two, including the kind of hard-edged results that made the matchup feel familiar long before Sunday was set.
The weather could change the shape of the final. Sunday’s forecast called for colder and windier conditions, the kind that can blunt Shelton’s serve and drag points into longer rallies, which should suit Cobolli if he can keep the ball in play. That adds a layer of pressure to a week that already mattered for Shelton, with bigger events in Madrid and Rome coming next and little margin for another flat stretch. The final is now a test of whether the American’s surge in Munich is the start of something more durable, or simply the best week he has had in a difficult season.
