Montreal, Aug 8: Ben Shelton breezed past Taylor Fritz in the second semi-final of the Montreal Open 2025 on Thursday, August 7 to set up a final clash with Karen Khachanov. Shelton beat his fellow countryman in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to become the youngest American to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final since Andy Roddick in Toronto in 2004, in the final.Shelton, 22, will be playing his first ATP Masters 1000 final when he takes on Khachanov. Following his dominating win, Shelton revealed that he’s delighted with the big improvements he’s made in his game in recent times.
For me it’s the level — 100%. I’m just looking for things in my game to just kind of improve, and I’ve seen so many big improvements this week. So, that’s what I’m most happy about — the way I’m playing, how I’m executing, how little I’m hesitating,” Shelton said.
In the first semi-final, Karen Khachanov stunned the top seed Alexander Zverev and beat him in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4). Khachanov saved a match point to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 final, with the previous coming at Paris in 2018, where he upset Novak Djokovic. It was the first win for the Russian against the three-time Grand Slam runner-up after losing the last three encounters.
After a gruelling three-hour fixture, Khachanov admitted that he had to dig deep to lift his game to stun Zverev.
“I had to dig deep and lift my level. It was a very demanding, very mental, very physical match. So I’m very happy to get the win after losing some easy ones to him in recent years. Today was a real close one. I was match point down, if the ball touches the net and drops over we wouldn’t be talking now,” said Kachanov.