With Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and others from the National Bank open, there was little to no doubt that an unexpected definitive matchup would be in the cards. The only question was: which two surprises would be the last men who stand?
The answer: Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov.
Shelton and Khachanov will be in their career for the second time against the second time when they fight on Thursday evening for the Masters 1000 title in Toronto. Their only earlier meeting arrived earlier this season in Indian Wells, where Shelton rode 6-3, 7-5.
Since that result it is only on full steam for Shelton. The 22-year-old is a maximum of number 7 in the world and if he lifts the trophy, he will climb to the sixth in the ranking and celebrated in the race to Turin. The summer results of Shelton include a quarter -final run in Wimbledon, a semi -final in Washington, DC and Toronto victories in Adrian Mannarino, Brandon Nakashima, Flavio Cobolli, Alex de Minauraur and Taylor Fritz.
The efforts of Khachanov come from more from the left field, but it is not overly shocking in view of its history of success in Canada. The 16th ranking was already a dual semi -finalist at this tournament (once in Toronto, once in Montreal); Now he is from a final thanks to victories over Juan Pablo Ficovich, Emilio Nava, Casper Ruud, Alex Michelsen and Alexander Zverev.
Unfortunately for Khachanov nothing is good for him for him – including his struggles against Shelton in Indian Wells. The no. 4 Seed serves better and gets bigger off the ground, which will bring Khachanov to defense. Returning and defending are not necessarily enormous weaknesses for the 29-year-old, but he does not excel in both department.
During his last two straight defeats of the Minaur and Fritz, Shelton played better from the back of the field than ever before. If he brings something close to that level on Thursday, the American will stand in line for his first Masters 1000 Triumph.
Choose: Shelton in 2
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