Toronto Day 13 Recap served up by Sobeys:…

Ben Shelton will never forget his first ATP Masters 1000 title.

In a tournament that had already seen him eke out two victories in a final-set tiebreak, Shelton delivered another showstopping performance on Thursday evening in Toronto, rallying from a set down to edge out No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3), for the 2025 National Bank Open presented by Rogers title. With this victory, the 22-year-old American will not only rise to a career-high ranking of No. 6 in the world, but he has also cemented himself once again as a major contender to win the U.S. Open, where he reached the semifinals in 2023.

“I feel like it was a perfect storm for me this week — a lot of tight matches, long matches. [I] played some of the best tennis that I've played this year,” Shelton said in his post-match press conference. “And 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.”

Competing in the first 12-day edition of the National Bank Open, Shelton and Khachanov were, by far, the most impressive of the 96 players entered into the singles draw. After surviving back-to-back three-set thrillers, Shelton handily dismantled No. 9 seed and recent Washington champion Alex de Minaur and No. 2 seed and recent Wimbledon semifinalist Taylor Fritz in straight sets. Khachanov, for his part, has steadily built his way back up to the top of his game, culminating in a marathon semifinal win over top seed Alexander Zverev.

Having played two tight sets — which Shelton won — earlier this year in Indian Wells, both players knew they would have to be prepared for another epic battle. Khachanov had been particularly dominant on serve throughout the two-week event, dropping serve only once in each of his first five matches.

The No. 11 seed drew first blood at 3-all, looping heavy forehands to Shelton’s more vulnerable backhand and then taking advantage of any midcourt balls. But right when Khachanov appeared to be on the verge of serving out the opening set, Shelton came roaring back, ripping a few huge forehands en route to converting his first break point of the encounter. From there, the American seemed to have all the momentum, holding serve and then earning a total of three set points at 6-5. However, Khachanov’s serve came to his rescue again under pressure, and in the tense first-set tiebreak, he was able to step up and dictate most of the rallies.

With Khachanov serving first in sets two and three, Shelton was forced to weather intense scoreboard pressure from his opponent. But, to his credit, the big-serving lefty was ready to rise to the challenge each time. After trading holds with Khachanov for most of the second set, Shelton was able to earn a decisive break at 4-all with some impressive first-strike tennis. In the next game, a couple of loose errors saw Shelton fall immediately down 0-40. But, once again, he was able to serve his way out of trouble and then played a thrilling set point — including a clever cross-court forehand passing shot that caught Khachanov off-guard — to force a decider.

“I never, ever bet against him when he is in those tight situations. I always feel like he's going to come through, and he doesn't always, but I always feel that he will because he just loves to compete, and I feel like he always plays his best tennis when it's on the line,”

Shelton’s father and coach, Bryan, told the media in a rare interview after the final. “As a young kid, when he made it to the finals, he usually won. And then we got to college, he'd make it to the finals and he'd win. And then he started his pro career, went to some challengers, got to a few finals in a row and won all three of them before the new year started. And he just has a knack for bringing his very best when it matters most.”

With little to separate both players — Khachanov and Shelton dropped a combined nine service points in 12 games — the final set was inevitably going to be decided by a seven-point tiebreak. Shelton, it is fair to say, learned his lesson from the first set.

“I felt in that last game [before the tiebreak] my slice serves were moving like 10 feet left-to-right. I don't know what it was — slight change in my ball toss or swing speed, and I was getting a crazy amount of bend on the serve. So I just stuck with that, stuck with the slider serves. Whether it was into the body or to the forehand or to the backhand, I was just trying to make that ball move left to right. I'd been hitting a lot of fastballs throughout the match, a lot of straight balls, and I thought he was returning that serve pretty well. That was my approach to going through my service points.”

“On returns, I was just trying to be really aggressive with my footwork, find forehands, try to get to neutral, and get to attack,” Shelton added. “And, yeah, I hit one screamer return at the end of the tiebreak, but just tried to flip the switch. I lost the first tiebreak, not being tentative, but he overpowered me. He played bigger than I did, he hit better shots than I did, and I just didn't want to go out the same way.”

Khachanov may have defeated Zverev the night before in a final-set tiebreak, but he had no such luck the second time around. When asked what he thought made the difference between both matches, the 29-year-old pointed out that he was playing two very different opponents — one who thrived on longer rallies, and another who liked to play quicker points.

“It's true that Sascha [Zverev] is also a big server, but in the tiebreaker he didn't put too many first serves in. So that was already different, because [in the semifinals] the balls were more in play, so it was more about the rallies,” said Khachanov. “I would say the same about today — that if there would be rallies, maybe I was dominating and getting more rallies in my hand, that's the feeling at least I had.

“But then he served it out like crazy,” he continued. “He put all the serves in, made aces. So I give all the credit to him to step up and, let's say, get this win, in the tiebreaker especially. It's not about only my offence. I didn't have a chance to be [on] the offence, first you need to return. So he really served it out — I would say that was the difference in the tiebreaker.”

Despite falling just short of winning his second ATP Masters 1000 title, Khachanov sounded upbeat in his post-final press conference. “Every match you play, you want to win, you want to succeed. But especially in the last match of the tournament, [you want to] lift the title, to lift the trophy,” he said. “But at the same time, still it's a positive, great tournament, great run. I had some great battles, great wins against top guys. So that's why I give credit to myself for doing that. You can win, you can lose, so you just try to regroup and be ready for the next tournament — it's another Masters 1000, and then it's a Grand Slam.”

Shelton’s victory was made all the sweeter by the fact that he was able to immediately share it with his father, who was the first person he hugged in his box after the match. “He knows me really well. He doesn't sugarcoat things. He's honest. I think 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. He respects me in the same way,” Shelton said of their professional relationship. “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. But he does a great job of injecting little bits and pieces throughout the match that help me.”

A former pro who reached a career-high of World No. 55 in the early 1990s before becoming a top college coach, Bryan Shelton understands first-hand just how difficult it is to succeed at this level. “It's just such a satisfying feeling. As a professional tennis player, you don't have that many opportunities to win tournaments, to win titles,” he said. “So, for [Ben], he's such a competitor, and I just felt like he was just jubilant. And what a great feeling. It doesn't last forever, that feeling, but for that moment it was pretty special.”

“It's nice when you all of a sudden put your game face away, and it's just raw emotion and the feelings that you have and the love that you have for one another,” Bryan added. “And all week long, we've had our game faces on: ‘What's next? Okay, we got to do this, we got to recover, we got to prepare. Let's go over the video. Let's do this now. No, we need five more minutes on the court. No, I need you to hit service this target again.’ So you're constantly got your game face on all week, and then finally you get to the end. It is like, what a great feeling for both of us to see him do what he did on the court tonight.”

As he looks ahead to the next Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati — which has already begun — and then to Flushing Meadows, Shelton is hopeful that winning his biggest title to date will help propel him into the next chapter of his career: “I hope that this week 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. I feel like I have a good grasp now on the things that really work for me against guys who are playing some of the best tennis in the world, and the things that I need to continue to work on.”

Feature Photo : Peter Power

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