Toronto, Aug 6: Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton won in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open, setting up the first all-American semifinal in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament in 15 years.
The second-seeded Fritz beat No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (4). He hit 20 aces, including one that finished off the match.
Shelton, the No. 4 seed, then beat No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old reached the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time.
The matchup Wednesday between Fritz and Shelton will be the first time since Andy Roddick beat Mardy Fish at Cincinnati in 2010 that two American met in an ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
Wednesday’s other semifinal will see top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, the 2017 tournament winner in Montreal, take on No. 11 Karen Khachanov of Russia. The final is Thursday.
Fritz came out firing in hazy and breezy conditions with three aces to win the first game. He then broke Rublev in securing the match’s first eight points.
The 27-year-old American, who sits fourth in the ATP Tour rankings and lost last year’s U.S. Open final to No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fired two more aces to go up 4-1 before serving out the set.
Looking for his 11th ATP Tour victory — and second Masters 1000 crown — Fritz broke Rublev with the second set tied 4-4, but the Russian returned the favor to stay alive in the next game and went up 6-5 before Fritz forced the tiebreaker.
Fritz lost in the Wimbledon semis to No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who along with a host of top players including Sinner, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic all skipped this hard-court event expanded to two weeks in 2025.
Rublev lost in last year’s final to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, when the event was played in Montreal. The 27-year-old from Moscow made the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the French Open. (AP)
