Ben Shelton arrived in Canada with just one ATP Masters 1000 match win all season. Twelve days later, he leaves Montreal as a back-to-back champion, having not dropped a set and looking like the man to beat heading into the US Open.
With the top four seeds all clowning up early, the defending champion handled the pressure superbly, producing some of the best all-court tennis I’ve seen him play to become the first player since Rafael Nadal in 2019 to successfully defend the Canadian Masters title.
Brandon Nakashima also played his part, enjoying the best week of his career to reach a maiden Masters 1000 final, but Shelton’s combination of power, improved returning and composure under pressure proved too much in the championship match.
Day Twelve Canada Open Final Result
Ben Shelton def. Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 7-6(4)
Ben Shelton completed a flawless title defence in Montreal, defeating Brandon Nakashima to become the first man since Rafael Nadal in 2019 to successfully defend the Canadian Masters crown, and he did so without dropping a set.
The scoreline perhaps undersells the closeness as Nakashima served superbly early on, opening the match with four aces in his first service game, but Shelton gradually found his range on return and produced the decisive moment of the opening set with a blistering forehand return winner to break for 4-3.
From there, the defending champion never looked back, controlling the baseline with his forehand and mixed in plenty of variety, using the slice, coming forward regularly and showing a willingness to engage in longer rallies when required.
Nakashima also deserves plenty of credit for hanging around. Despite trailing for much of the second set, he repeatedly held under scoreboard pressure and forced a tie-break, but Shelton simply raised his level again. A forehand winner secured the crucial mini-break before another rocket down the line sealed victory after one hour and 27 minutes.
Shelton didn’t drop serve in either the semi-final or final and wasn’t broken in his final three matches of the tournament.
He also claimed the title without dropping a set, becoming the first man since Novak Djokovic in 2016 to achieve that feat in Canada, and there was nobody in the draw able to exploit his weaknesses on the backhand/backhand return.
To be fair though, Shelton did have a very good week on the return of serve, so it will be interesting to see if that continues when he runs into a better calibre of server.
I played some of the best tennis I ever played. To be able to put that on display in front of you has been an honour. Shelton on his win.
The victory also topped off an outstanding week statistically. Shelton defended his title, improved to 6-0 against Nakashima, collected his fourth ATP title of the season, and became just the fourth man this century after Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to successfully defend the Canadian Masters title.
For Nakashima, it was also a solid week as the American reached his first Masters 1000 final, played some of the cleanest tennis of his career and leaves Montreal with a career-high ranking of 22, which I’ve always thought was possible for him
With Cincinnati immediately underway and the US Open looming, Shelton now heads to New York as one of the form players on tour. Can he go deep in New York?
