Ben Shelton has claimed the biggest title of his career at the Canadian Masters after outlasting Karen Khachanov in a closely fought three-set encounter.
The 22-year-old fought back from a set down to beat Khachanov 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3), after almost three hours of play. Shelton was only broken once in the match and won 55 out of 69 points played behind his first serve. Overall, he hit 38 winners alongside 45 unforced errors.
Shelton is the youngest American player to win a Masters 1000 event since 2003, when Andy Roddick triumphed at the Miami Open. According to OptaAce, he is also the youngest player from his country to beat four top-20 players at the same tournament on the men’s Tour since Pete Sampras at the 1994 Indian Wells Masters. Before Khachanov, Shelton also scored wins over Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and Flavio Cobelli.
“I feel like it was a perfect storm for me this week,” said Shelton.
“A lot of tight matches, long matches, and some of the best tennis that I’ve played this year.
“To finish out the week the way that I did, especially with the opponent that I had today, and the way that he was playing, I couldn’t be happier.”
Two years ago, world No.1 Jannik Sinner won his first big title at the same event before establishing himself as a dominant force in men’s tennis. As for Shelton, he played down the hype of following in the footsteps of his rival.
“I think everyone has a different path. Everyone’s story is written differently,” he said. “I’ve kind of done it my way. There’s been a lot of guys to look up to, just because of how young they have been when they have broken through, and have had so much success at big tournaments.
“Tennis seems to be a sport that has young champions all the time, which is not
common or normal, it’s ultra impressive.
“I hope that this week kind of kick starts me and gets me more consistent with the type of tennis that I want to play day-in and day-out. It’s certainly going to push me to work harder.”
A big part of Shelton’s rise has been his father and coach, Bryan. A former top 60 player who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1994 and won the Hall of Fame Open in Newport twice.
“I take things well from him because I respect the career he had as a player, I respect him as a coach, obviously, and I respect him as my dad,” Shelton said of their relationship.
“He respects me in the same way. I know that he has a great tennis mind, he respects my tennis mind and my independence, knowing that, he can let me go in the big moments and just let me play my game.
“He does a great job of injecting little bits and pieces throughout the match that help me.”
Shelton has overtaken Novak Djokovic in the PIF ATP Rankings to move into sixth place.
