Shelton had already survived a nail-biter in his first-round match in Munich, fighting off three match points to defeat Croatia’s Borna Gojo, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), and this one had almost as much danger.

After dropping a 29-minute first set, Shelton twice had to serve to stay in the match against Cerundolo in the second set, at 4-5 and 5-6, and he was twice two points away from losing in the second set tie-break, at 6-all and 7-all. And even after sneaking out the breaker, he was broken at love in the first game of the third set.

But he got that break back and stayed on serve with Cerundolo throughout the decider until pouncing again in the very last game of the match, breaking to seal a two-hour, seven-minute victory.

“It’s a big win for me,” the American said in his on-court interview. “Number one, to get a win on clay against a guy like that gives me a lot of confidence, and to be in a 500 final in Europe, in my second tournament of the clay-court season, I’m really happy. I’m excited.

“I feel like I’ve been playing really well here, I love the energy here in Munich, and I’m going to go for that title tomorrow.”

Shelton will be going for the third ATP title of his career, and second at the ATP 500 level—he won the ATP 500 hard-court event in Tokyo in 2023. He also has an ATP 250 title, on clay, in Houston last year.

Awaiting the No. 2-seeded Shelton in Sunday’s final will be either No. 1-seeded Alexander Zverev or unseeded Fabian Marozsan.