American fourth seed Ben Shelton battled from a set down to clinch his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open on Thursday, defeating Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3).
The world No 7 capped off an impressive week that saw him beat Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur and American second seed Taylor Fritz on his way to achieving his first Masters 1000 title and the biggest title of his career.
The 22-year-old is the youngest American man to win a Masters 1000 since former world No 1 Andy Roddick at Miami in 2004.
Khachanov seemed to be on course for victory when he took a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but Shelton fought back to break serve and take a 6-5 lead. Khachanov, 29, then recovered to force a tiebreak and capitalised on a series of errors from Shelton to claim the first set.
The second set brought its own twist, when technical issues halted play at 2-2, leaving the stadium unable to register calls.
Once play resumed and after Shelton complained, Khachanov surged to a 4-3 lead. However, the resilient Shelton broke again to edge ahead 5-4 and saved four break points to clinch the second set, forcing a decider, which was decided by a tie-break.
