Two heavyweight quarterfinals were played in Toronto to complete the semi-final line-up for this year’s Canadian Open Masters sponsored by the National Bank.
He is a player on a big match. He has been wearing the flag for the United States in the big tournaments lately. He is a coupling, serves well. We are great friends, and it’s a match that I am really enthusiastic about. Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz kept their hope very alive with straight fixed victories to set up an all-American semi-final, only the fourth during a Masters event this century, which made the first American finalist since Reilly Opelka in 2021 were guaranteed.
The first to the last four was Fritz when he won a 6-3 7-6 (4) victory over last year’s finalist, Andrei Rublev, after another Masterklasse that was marred by one break when he served on 5-4 in the second set for the game. And that break has put an end to his run of 42 consecutive service!
After he had converted the fourth breaking point to fall his way, Rublev held to force a tiebreak, but was unable to extend in the game when the Fritz Servee held firmly for his 20th hard win of the season.
But he was not happy with himself, especially in that tenth game when he was ready for the first victory.
“That whole game was so shaky for me,” said Fritz Ruefly. “It’s strange because he was easy to hold, I held up. It felt so calm and chill and suddenly I served to be in the semi -final, the pressure of the game came out of nowhere.
“There is no way to suggest it, it was a tight game. My brain is a bit eliminated.
Fritz dominated on serve and fell nine aces in the airy opening set of 31 minutes and 20 before the game, equal to his three-set ACES record.
Rublev is impressed by his serving performance, apart from losing it to love in the second game of the opening set and crucial in the second.
Fritz is now playing Countryman Ben Shelton in what a different Serve -Dominated match could be.
Ben Shelton had a comfortable victory
(Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty images)
The 22-year-old used his flowering Serve and Fierce Forehand to end Alex de Minaur’s Run of seven consecutive victories when he entered the last four with a 6-3 6-4 victory after just 91 minutes.
“I am really happy with the victory; it showed a lot of mental resilience,” said a radiant Shelton. “He broke me a million times in practice and he is a really tough competitor. I have served the sets confidentially and I am really enthusiastic about the chance to be in the semi -final.”
It was his second most comfortable victory of the week when he hit 13 aces, eight Forehand winners when the mostly solid crumbled the Minaur with 28 casual errors. The American also surpassed the Aussie in the basic fairs.
“Many guys see me as a server and not as much as a baseliner,” Shelton added. “Psychologically, when I get into a competition and go into the lockdown mode and put a million balls in court, my rally ball comes with a lot of weight and I feel that I sometimes surprise boys.
“Being able to win the longer rallies and to be comfortable in my own skin and not the feeling that I am in a hurry to make something happen, a large part of my evolution is.”
On 22, Shelton became the youngest American Masters semi-finalist since Andy Roddick 20 years ago in Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic was able to jump to sixth place on the world ranking when he wins the title.
Looking ahead to his collision with Fritz, Shelton admitted: “Yes, really excited. I played him immediately when I came on tour. We had a great battle in Indian Wells … He is a player at big matches. He has the flag for the United States in the big tournaments in the big tournaments of lately. He has been good recently.
It should be a blockbuster between the current top two Americans, where the more established Fritz tries to keep the rapidly rising ambitious Shelton.
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