Ben Shelton says he “loves” the chase of trying to catch up to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz after defending his Canadian Open title.

After storming to his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto last year, the 23-year-old was in irresistible form to claim the crown in Montreal by beating Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 7-6(4) on Thursday.

The American became the fourth man this century to successfully defend the Canada title after Andy Murray (2009-10), Novak Djokovic (2011-12), and Rafael Nadal (2018-19).

What made this victory all the more impressive is that Shelton didn’t drop a set, off the back of a disappointing couple of months where he suffered early exits at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The left-hander is now back up to sixth in the ATP Tour rankings and has leapfrogged compatriot Taylor Fritz as the American No 1.

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While Shelton won this tournament for the second time without having to face any of Sinner, Alcaraz, or Novak Djokovic, the big-server wants to reach that level.

When asked how much confidence does this title win give him to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz, he replied, “Yeah. I think it’s a constant process for me. I love having people out in front of me that I can chase.

“It’s been that way my whole career. I’ve never just been the best. I’ve always been chasing the best. Been a little bit behind, you could say, in my progression, and I think that’s pushed me in every aspect of my tennis game.

“And, you know, I’ll continue to work, to chase the guys that are in front of me. Obviously try to stay ahead of these young guys that are coming out on tour.

“I played a lot of young guys this week. The future of the sport, really, really high-quality players, and they’re not stopping. There’s so many more that are coming up.

“So I think that tennis is a game that you gotta keep improving or you get passed up, you get left in the dust. And so my job with the gifts that I have is to try to maximize, do as much as I can in the sport, become the best version of myself, and that’s where my focus lies.”

Shelton will be one of the favourites to win the Cincinnati Masters as Sinner and Alcaraz are both out with knee and wrist injuries, respectively. As he prepares for that final US Open warm-up event, the American is feeling very confident about his game.

Shelton has always had one of the best serves on the tour but his break rate was outside the top 50. But in Montreal, he turned that on his head and broke seemingly at will.

He added, “For me this week was a massive stepping stone, I would say even more than what I did in Toronto last year because the way that I did it.

“I thought I was much more clinical, more focused. I was an elite returner at times. But the way that I was able to break serve, the fashion in which I did it, my ability to play defence and offense, I’m excited with the way that I’m progressing.

“Throughout this season on the hardcourts I felt that each tournament I’ve gotten better and better. And obviously we’re still early in this US Open swing and have a lot of hard court tennis to play through the rest of the year. So I’m just really looking forward to see what kind of damage I can do moving forward.”

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