Ben Shelton defeats Taylor Fritz to reach first Masters 1000 final of career in Toronto

Ben Shelton has beaten Taylor Fritz in an all-American semifinal clash in Toronto, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the biggest final of his career at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

At 22, he's also the first American player born in the 2000s to reach the final of an ATP Masters 1000 event.

"I'm pretty excited. This has been a great week for me," he said in his on-court interview. "My level's gotten better every single match and the crowds have gotten louder every single match, so I appreciate you guys. You guys have kept me going.

"It's been a long nine or 10 days—I'm not sure how long I've been here—but I hope you guys come back tomorrow night, because I'm really looking forward to playing for my first Masters 1000 title, and I'm just really excited that I get the opportunity to try and do that in front of you guys."

In a clash between the Top 2 Americans on the ATP rankings—Fritz is currently No. 4, Shelton No. 7—both men threatened to break early on, with Fritz fending off a break point to hold in the opening game of the match, then Shelton in turn fighting off two break points to hold in the second game of the match.

That would be Fritz's final look at any break points.

Shelton lost a total of just nine points in eight service games the rest of the way, never even being pushed to deuce in any of them. Meanwhile, he broke Fritz in three of his next nine service games, including in the very last game of the match, where the world No. 4 double faulted on match point.

Having beaten No. 8-ranked Alex de Minaur in the quarters, this is the first time Shelton has beaten Top 10 players in back-to-back matches in his career—his win over Fritz also equaled the biggest win of his career by ranking, having beaten a No. 4-ranked Jannik Sinner in Shanghai in 2023.

Shelton also improved to 26-1 this year after winning the first set, the only defeat coming against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of Monte Carlo, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1.

Shelton is now into the fifth and biggest ATP final of his career. He's 2-2 in his first four, winning one ATP 500 (2023 Tokyo) and one ATP 250 (2024 Houston) and finishing runner-up at two other ATP 500s (2024 Basel and 2025 Munich).

Standing between him and his biggest title to date will be Karen Khachanov, a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) winner over Alexander Zverev in the first semifinal match of the night.

Shelton and Khachanov have played once before, with the American prevailing at Indian Wells earlier this year, 6-3, 7-5.

"I've played finals on the tour—I've won them, and I've lost a couple too," Shelton said. "It's not easy playing them. There's a lot of nerves, a lot of anticipation. But I'm really, really excited.

"Let's try to get my biggest one tomorrow."