Shelton and Nakashima set up first all-American Masters 1000 final since 2003

Ben Shelton and Brandon Nakashima will contest the first all-American ATP Masters 1000 final since Andy Roddick beat Mardy Fish in Cincinnati in 2003, after both reached the National Bank Open final on backto-back nights in Montreal. No. 5 seed Shelton, the defending champion, beat No. 12 seed Learner Tien 6-2, 6-3, while No. 28 seed Nakashima beat No. 20 seed Rafael Jodar 7-6 (3), 6-4. Shelton, ranked No. 10, leads their head-to-head 5-0.

Shelton has not dropped a set all fortnight, and the win over Tien completed a run to a second Masters 1000 final of his career, both in Canada, and stretched his winning streak at the event to 11 matches. He had also beaten Tien twice already in his career before Thursday but had never faced him on this run into the tournament, having come through Czech Jakub Mensik 6-3, 6-1, No. 22 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-3, 7-6 (3), No. 31 seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 and Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-5.

“I am super happy with the performance,” Shelton said. “Learner is a guy who presents me with a lot of problems in my game. A tough challenge to overcome. To get a win over him in the fashion that I did, I’m super pleased with that.”

He added that facing a fellow American for the title carried extra weight. “It means a lot, so many American guys in the mix. So many guys are doing great things for our country, for our sport. It is an honour to be playing a tournament as big as this and playing another American in the final. Brandon has been playing exceptionally this week.”

Nakashima’s route to the final was just as compelling. He beat Italian Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-3, No. 23 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-5, countryman Titouan Droguet 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and German Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 6-1 before closing out Jodar in a tense finish. “It was crazy, the last few games were super tight,” Nakashima said in his on-court interview. “I knew I had to keep fighting and fight off a couple of break points, but luckily my serve hit the spots when I needed it to and super happy to get through that one.”

Nakashima’s serve was the platform for the whole run: he struck six aces without a single double fault, saved all six break points he faced, all of them in the second set, and won 81 percent of points on his first serve (91 percent in the first set alone) and 62 percent on his second (80 percent in the first set).