Ben Shelton downs Alex de Minaur to set Toronto SF showdown with Fritz

Shelton downs De Minaur to set Toronto SF showdown with Fritz

22-year-old is youngest American Masters 1000 semi-finalist in two decades

Peter Power/Tennis Canada Ben Shelton in action at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. By ATP Staff

American lefty Ben Shelton has moved inside the cut for the Nitto ATP Finals after snapping Alex de Minaur's seven-match winning streak in the quarter-finals of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto Tuesday night.

Leveraging his monster serve and high-kicking forehand, Shelton romped to a relatively comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win, which contrasted the back-to-back third-set tie-break victories he endured over Brandon Nakashima in the third round and Flavio Cobolli in the fourth round.

Shelton, who served 13 aces in the 91-minute win, will now look for his first win over second seed Taylor Fritz in an all-American semi-final. Fritz won their lone Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting in Indian Wells in 2023.

Shelton clubbed eight forehand winners and capitalised on an unusual 28 unforced errors from De Minaur, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He also won 32 baseline points to De Minaur’s 29.

Victory over 2023 Toronto finalist De Minaur lifted Shelton two spots to seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin as he looks to make his debut at the season finale from 9-16 November in Italy.

Shelton, 22, who also became the youngest American Masters 1000 semi-finalist since Andy Roddick 20 years ago in Indian Wells, will improve his career-high PIF ATP Ranking from No. 7 to No. 6 – leapfrogging Novak Djokovic – should he win the title.

Earlier Tuesday Fritz defeated World No. 11 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6(4) after firing 20 aces, matching his career-high mark for a three-set match.

De Minaur, the recent champion at the Washington ATP 500, has a tour-best 24 hard-court match wins this season. He drops one spot to eighth in the Live Race but remains on track to return to Turin for the second consecutive year.

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