Fourth seed Ben Shelton of the US on Thursday battled back from a set down to clinch his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open in Toronto, defeating Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
The world No. 7 capped an impressive week that saw him beat Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur and second seed Taylor Fritz of the US on his way to achieving his first Masters 1000 title and the biggest crown of his career.
The 22-year-old is the youngest American to win an ATP Masters 1000 since former world No. 1 Andy Roddick in Miami in 2004. His other two titles came in Tokyo in 2023 and Houston, Texas, last year.
Photo: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
“It’s a surreal feeling,” Shelton said.
“It’s been a long week, not an easy path to the final. My best tennis came out when it mattered most. I was clutch, I persevered, I was resilient. All the qualities I like to see in myself,” he said.
With the triumph, Australian Open semi-finalist Shelton is to rise to a career-high ranking of world No. 6.
Khachanov seemed to be on course for victory when he took a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but Shelton fought back to break serve and take a 6-5 lead. Khachanov, 29, then recovered to force a tiebreak and capitalized on a series of errors from Shelton to claim the first set.
The second set brought its own twist, when technical issues halted play at 2-2 with players unable to hear audio calls from the electronic line-calling system.
Once play resumed and after Shelton complained, Khachanov surged to a 4-3 lead, but the resilient Shelton broke again to edge ahead 5-4 and saved four break points to clinch the second set, forcing a decider, which ended in a tiebreak dominated by Shelton.
Shelton banged down 16 aces and struck 38 winners in the contest that lasted for 2 hours, 47 minutes.
“Karen was bullying me around the court. The way he hit his forehand tonight, the way he was cutting off the court, the way he was serving, it felt like I had a freight train coming at me,” Shelton said. “So it was uncomfortable to move forward. The ball was coming at me even faster, but I started being able to redirect, get some big shots off of my own, and kind of flip the momentum of that match. So that was huge for me.”
Khachanov was chasing a second Masters 1000 title, having won the 2018 Paris Masters by upsetting Novak Djokovic.
“It’s painful to lose in the final ... yesterday I won 7-6 in the third. Today I lost,” said Khachanov, who knocked out top seed Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals after a near three-hour battle.
“But thanks to my team for a great result here,” he said. “I have a big team. The rest of the team is at home, everybody is awake watching all my matches... We win and we lose together. It’s okay.”
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