Shelton at the Double - How this Montreal Title Affects the US Open

Ben Shelton has become a back-to-back Montreal Open champion in an all American final seeing the new World No.6 not drop a set throughout the entire tournament. Lets have a closer look as to how he achieved this, and what this tournament could mean leading up to the US Open in 2 weeks time.

Montreal started off with a bang, as top seed Alexander Zverev bowed out to dutchman Tallon Griekspoor - his largest win of the season. But the toppling of the top seeds did not stop here. Home favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime had to withdraw from his first round match due to a back injury sustained before the tournament, while Alex de Minaur lost out on a match point against Cameron Norrie after a double-fault, leading to his eventual loss to the Brit. And once Daniil Medvedev rounded up the top 10’s struggles, only Shelton remained - the last top 10 seed in the tournament.

It wasn’t going to be as easy as many believed for Shelton to reclaim his crown. His side of the draw saw him need to defeat either Caspar Ruud or Joao Fonseca in the round of 16 to progress. Fonseca put on a masterclass of a performance to outlast Ruud, winning 7-6 / 6-3 to claim victory. What came next was arguably the game of the tournament.

Shelton and Fonseca went back and forth in an all out battle for the next round, with the American claiming the first set 6-3. A mixture of powerful forehands and lethal serving from both players saw the last set go to a tiebreak. In the end Ben Shelton pushed through, and the Brazilians tournament was over.

On the other side of the draw, the likes of Rafeal Jodar, one of Spain’s bright young superstars, was making his way through the tournament with ease. His opponents consisted of Lorenzo Musetti (seeded 11th for the tournament) and Jiri Lehecka (seeded 8th for the tournament), dismantling both without dropping a set.

However, the Spaniard was to be thwarted by Shelton’s fellow American, Brandon Nakashima, whose 2026 so far had consisted of nothing but inconsistency. Reaching the semi-finals of the HSBC Championships and only last week reaching the semi-finals of the Washington Open, defeating Jakub Mensik and Alex de Minaur - falling short in both semis.

Making it to a major ATP tour final against Ben Shelton was a major achievement for the American, with his last ever tournament win coming in San Diego in 2022, also on hard court. Yet, there wasn’t much he could do against the defending champion, who went on to win in straight sets and complete the back-to-back Montreal victory.

This victory wasn’t just another title for Shelton. He became the fourth man this century to successfully defend the Canada title. The only players to achieve this? : Andy Murray (2009-10), Novak Djokovic (2011-12) and Rafael Nadal (2018-19).

So what does this tournament mean for the US Open coming in 2 week’s time? All the top seeds of Montreal will try again to prove their worth before the US Open, with Novak

Djokovic joining along in the Cincinnati Open starting this week. It will also be interesting to see if Ben Shelton can carry this form into Cincinnati as well as the US Open.

We won’t be seeing the likes of Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz before the US Open starts, as the Italian was forced to pull out of Cincinnati due to a knee injury, while the Spaniard remains a doubt through his continuing wrist injury.

There is an extremely strong chance that Djokovic could go on and win his fifth US open - if the two best players in the world become absent. Ben Shelton will have the momentum of a tournament victory, while Alexander Zverev will have the confidence of the French Open title and the Wimbledon final to potentially carry him towards victory.

The wait will be agonising, but what a few weeks we have in store for us.