“Really excited” – Ben Shelton shares how he feels about facing close friend Taylor Fritz in historic all-American SF at Canadian Open

August 6, 2025

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Ben Shelton has expressed excitement about playing against Taylor Fritz in the National Bank semifinals. Shelton battled it out with Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals of the ATP 1000 Masters tournament in Toronto and won the matchup in straight sets in just 91 minutes.

Shelton had a commanding Canadian Open campaign, posting wins over Adrian Mannarino, Brandon Nakashima, and Flavio Cobolli to reach the quarterfinals. His stellar serves and strong forehand resulted in 11 aces and 32 baseline points, whereas the Australian trailed with just one ace and 29 baseline points. After defeating De Minaur, he has made it to just the fourth all-American semifinal at a Masters 1000 event since 2000.

As he is set to face American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, who had a phenomenal grass-court campaign, Shelton made an honest admission about playing against Taylor Fritz. He expressed excitement and lauded him for his tennis as well, via ASAP Sports:

"Really excited. I played him kind of right when I came out on tour. We had a great battle in Indian Wells. I never played him in the later stages of a tournament, that was the first or second round. I'm really excited.

"He's a big-match player. He's been carrying the flag for the United States in the big tournaments as of late. And, yeah, he's clutch, serves well. We're great friends, and it's a match that I'm really excited about."

Ben Shelton also reached the semifinals of the Citi Open in July but lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in two sets.

Ben Shelton sheds light on the possibility of an American player winning the Grand Slam

Shelton at the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open presented by Rogers - Day 10 - (Source: Getty)

It's been more than 20 years since Andy Roddick won a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open in 2003. Since then, several American players have had breakthroughs to the finals but narrowly missed out on the title. Even in 2024, Taylor Fritz advanced to the finals after making the All-American quarterfinals with Frances Tiafoe, but the 27-year-old succumbed to the World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

As the 2025 edition of Flushing Meadows nears, top players will be in contention with the Americans ready to go for it again. Ben Shelton, in a press conference amid his Canada Open campaign, stated that he and his countrymen would soon bring a major title home.

"I have no doubt that one of us is going to get it at some point. Who knows who it is, you guys just got to wait and see. I think American tennis is in a really good place."

Ben Shelton has entered the US Open mixed doubles roster with fellow US player and doubles No. 1 Taylor Townsend, who won the Australian Open this year.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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