TORONTO – Ben Shelton won the National Bank Open on Thursday night, Thursday night, with the third and largest title of his young career.
Shelton, 22, who came in fourth, became America’s first winner in the Masters 1000 hard court event since Andy Roddick in 2003. Shelton won the Tokyo Hard Court in 2023 and Clay in Houston last year.
According to an ESPN survey, Shelton is also the youngest American to win the Masters 1000 title since Roddick won Miami in 2004 when he was 21 years old.
“That’s a surreal feeling,” Shelton said. “It was a long week and not an easy path to the finals. My best tennis came out when it mattered most. I was a clutch, I was patient, I was resilient.
Shelton is a career-high sixth place in the world. He defeated Kachanov after topping second-seeded Taylor Fritz in the national semi-finals 6-4, 6-3.
The winner had seven of the 16 aces in the third set and ended the match by scoring 14 consecutive points on serves.
Kachanov, 29, has seven career victories – all on the hard court. In the semi-finals, he survived the match point with another third-set tiebreaker with top-seeded Alexander Zverev.
No with top-ranked Jannik Sinner, the 2023 winner in Toronto. Carlos Alcaraz of 2 skipped the expansion event when preparing for the US opening.
Julian Cash and Lloyd Graspool won the All-English doubles final, saving four match points in a 6-3, 6-7 (5) 13-11 victory over Joe Salisbury and Neil Skepski. Second-seeded Wimbledon Champion won 19 straight matches.
