On Thursday night in Toronto, the National Bank Open crowd knew they were witnessing something special, Ben Shelton reintroduced himself—again. The 22-year-old American didn’t just win the National Bank Open, he snatched it from the jaws of defeat, and turned it into the biggest title of his career: his first ATP Masters 1000 crown.
Against 11th seed Karen Khachanov—one of the game’s most imposing ball strikers—Shelton dropped the first set 6-7(5) and found himself staring down a freight train of forehands. Khachanov racked up 10 forehand winners in the opener, pinning Shelton deep and dictating from the baseline. But where some players fold, Shelton shifted gears.
On the advice of his father and coach, Bryan Shelton, he began to step up, take the ball earlier, and impose his own aggression. That adjustment paid off almost immediately. In the second set, serving at 0/40 in a must-hold game, Shelton dug deep—saving all three break points and eventually taking the set 6-4.
The third set was a tension-filled standoff. Khachanov served lights-out, forcing Shelton to respond in kind. From 3-4 down, the American held at love to stay alive, then again at 5-6—winning his 14th straight point on serve—to force the deciding tiebreak. But Shelton would slam the door, mixing pace with fearless shot-making to seal a 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3) victory.
Shelton, to his credit, put in work all week though, surviving third-set tiebreak escapes against Brandon Nakashima and Flavio Cobolli, a quarterfinal win over No. 8 Alex de Minaur, and an all-American semifinal triumph over No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz. Every round asked a question; and Shelton kept finding the answers.
The win makes him the youngest American Masters 1000 champion since Andy Roddick lifted the Miami trophy in 2004, and the first American to win this specific hard-court event since Roddick in 2003. It’s also his third career title—adding to Tokyo (2023, hard court) and Houston (2024, clay)—and will bump him to a career-high ranking of World No. 6.
Beyond the stats, what stood out most was Shelton’s composure. Known for being animated on court, he showed a different side in Toronto—thriving under scoreboard pressure, staying locked in, and trusting the work. His father called it perfectly: “Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. But it’s always nice when you can leave a tournament and hold a trophy in your hands, because it’s rare.”
Shelton now sits at fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin—and will likely debut at the Nitto ATP Finals—Shelton’s summer just got a little hotter. And with the US Open around the corner, this isn’t just a title, it’s a wave. The kind you can ride straight into New York City with the swagger of someone who knows he can beat anybody, anywhere.
