Ben Shelton broke onto the scene by winning his first-ever ATP Masters 1000 championship a year ago in Toronto.
He earned his second crown at that level by successfully defending his Canadian title on Thursday, defeating fellow American Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 7-6 (4) to win the National Bank Open in Montreal.
It was the fourth time this century a male player won the Canadian title back-to-back. Rafael Nadal was the most recent to do so in 2018-19. Andy Murray (2009-10) and Novak Djokovic (2011-12) accomplished the feat previously.
“For me to play the way that I played this week to go through this draw speaks to the work I have been putting in,” Shelton said. “It also speaks to my mental toughness, my ability to focus through everything that was going on this week.“
In winning his fourth tournament of the season (Dallas, Munich and Stuttgart), fifth-seeded Shelton collected 22 winners and committed 12 unforced errors. Nakashima, seeded 28th, had 19 winners and 21 unforced errors.
Nakashima fell to 0-6 against Shelton and was denied his first Masters 1000 title. His only tournament win on the tour came in 2022 in San Diego.
Shelton rolled to a win in the opening set in 33 minutes. Neither player faced a break point through the first six games before Shelton broke for a 4-3 lead and then got another break to seal the set.
Serving also dominated the second set of the 1-hour, 27-minute match, with neither player producing a break-point opportunity. The tiebreaker also was controlled by the servers. Shelton finally won a point on Nakashima’s serve for a 4-2 lead in the tiebreaker, and he closed out the match on Nakashima’s serve, too.
Cincinnati Open
Rain interrupted play on the first day of the tournament, but it didn’t stop Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who downed Croatia’s Dino Prizmic 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in Mason, Ohio.
Norrie withstood a 25-14 disadvantage on winners, rallying from a first-set loss to take control in the second set. Norrie converted two of three break points in the set and took advantage of seven unforced errors by Prizmic. He then broke Prizmic’s serve in the seventh game of the third set to move in front for good.
Norrie might find the going tougher in the second round, where he faces top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany.
Another early winner Thursday was Spain’s Martin Landaluce, who shook off a six-match losing streak to down Britain’s Jack Draper 6-3, 7-5. Draper, a former world No 4 player, couldn’t find traction against the younger Landaluce, who had fewer winners (33-21) but almost half the number of Draper’s unforced errors (47-24).
“I think the important thing today was believing in my shots, believing in my game,” Landaluce said. “I did some big misses at times but that’s OK, because it is how I enjoy playing.“
Other winners included Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic and Argentina’s Mariano Navone. France’s Terence Atmane advanced when Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics retired.
