By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, November 7, 2026
Photo credit: Screen Shot
Ben Shelton doesn’t wear a wristwatch on court.
A spirited Shelton continues to rise at closing time.
Down a break in the final set, Shelton surged through five of the final six games fending off Frenchman Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 final at the Rolex Paris Masters today.
The third-seeded Shelton is the first American finalist in Paris since Jack Sock captured the 2017 championship.
It is Shelton’s 11th career final, including his sixth final of the season, equaling Jannik Sinner for most on the ATP Tour this season. Shelton is the first American since James Blake in 2006 to reach six ATP finals in a season.
US Open finalist Shelton fired 44 winners—20 more than his Van Assche—and was 14 of 20 at net.
Ultimately, it was Shelton’s stamina, all-court acumen and relentless pressure—combined with Van Assche feeling the pressure of his bid to become the sixth different Frenchman to reach the final—that turned this semifinal around.
“For me, once I get a bead on the serve and I feel like I’m getting looks and putting returns in play and being effective in the rally in the baseline points, I feel like the flood gates are open,” Shelton told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj and Steve Weissman afterward. “So once I got the first break and then consolidated with a hold right after, I felt pretty confident that I was going to be able to come up with the goods down the stretch.
“It’s definitely not easy out here, especially when you’re playing a guy who’s serving as well as he is and can be really difficult to kind of see the way through but also find rhythm.
“I’m sure many people deal with against me as well. I thought it was a high quality match. Shout out to Luca, because he’s playing outstanding tennis. He’s improved so much, the serving being one of the massive areas and he’s going to be a force in 2027.”
The physical Shelton is becoming a shrewd problem solver under pressure as well: Shelton scored his 15th match win after losing the opening set today.
Former all-American Shelton will play for his eighth career title—and third career Masters 1000 championship—tomorrow against either second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz or former French Open finalist Casper Ruud.
The 24-year-old Shelton is 1-3 vs. Carlos Alcaraz, but won their last meeting in an epic early morning US Open finish. Shelton has split four meetings vs. Ruud, including beating the Norwegian at the US Open.
Of course, the intriguing subtext of a potential Shelton vs. Alcaraz final is the fact the American has hired the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s ex coach, former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, to join father Bryan Shelton on his coaching team in 2027.
Today, Shelton said he’s spoke to Alcaraz about the partnership.
“Obviously, a bit more personal. I reached out to [Alcaraz] before the news dropped and I wanted to let him know because I know how long and successful their relationship has been,” Shelton told Prakash Amritraj on Tennis Channel. “I don’t know that there’s a better guy on Tour than Carlos Alcarz. I mean he hit me back right away after winning Vienna and told me he was so happy for me and how big the improvements in my game are going to be working with Juan Carlos.”
A sloppy Shelton spit up a series of errors as Van Assche broke for a 6-5 lead. The Estoril champion served out the opening set at 15, sending French fans into a frenzy.
Shelton, who had framed a few forehands at the end of the opener, cleaned up his game considerably over the final two sets. After committing 17 unforced errors in the first set, Shelton made just 10 errors in the second and third sets combined.
Experience and clarity under severe stress sparked Shelton’s comeback.
Serving up 3-1 in the decider, Van Assche tightened up, particularly on the forehand wing. Van Assche sailed an inside-out forehand then lost the plot from the baseline gifting the break at 15.
Throwing down a love hold, Shelton leveled the set at 3-All.
Hitting some low slice to Van Assche’s forehand, Shelton was drawing errors from that wristy wing and imposing his forehand as he broke again for 4-3.
Curling a crosscourt forehand brought Shelton double match point.
On his second match point, Shelton slid a forehand strike down the line to complete a captivating comeback in two hours, 16 minutes.
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