World No.7 Ben Shelton defeated Australian Alex de Minaur in straight sets in his Canadian Open quarterfinal match hours after compatriot and World No.4 Taylor Fritz did the same to Andrey Rublev, setting up a mouth-watering all-American semifinal clash. The winner will await the winner of the Alexander Zverev-Karen Khachanov in the final on Thursday. 

The matchup is the first semifinal contest between two American men at a Masters since the 2010 Cincinnati Open, when Mardy Fish defeated former World No.1 Andy Roddick 4-6 7-6 (3) 6-1 to reach his third Masters final in singles, eventually losing to seven-time champion Roger Federer. The winner of Shelton-Fritz will become the first American male finalist at a Masters since Frances Tiafoe lost to Jannik Sinner at Cincinnati last year, and the first in Canada since Reilly Opelka lost to Daniil Medvedev in 2021. The last American man to win at this event was Andy Roddick in 2003, and no American man has won a Masters of any kind since Fritz himself won Indian Wells in 2022.

Fritz is set to play in his seventh career Masters semifinal and his first in Canada, which had previously been the site of his worst record at any big tournament until this year. Aside from his 2022 Indian Wells title, he has yet to reach another Masters final. For Shelton, the win over de Minaur clinched his first Masters semifinal appearance after three quarterfinal losses, as well as his third big semifinal after reaching the penultimate stage at the 2023 U.S. Open and this year’s Australian Open, both losses. With a title this week, Fritz would remain at World No.4 in the rankings and clinch a top 4 seed at the U.S. Open, while also boosting himself to the No.4 spot in the ATP Race ahead of Novak Djokovic. For Shelton, a maiden Masters title would move him past Djokovic to a career-high ranking of World No.6, while also boosting him past Djokovic, Fritz, and Jack Draper for the No.4 spot in the race. 

The two have faced each other just once before, at the 2023 Indian Wells tournament. In that second-round match, then-champion Fritz withstood a valiant effort from Shelton to win 4-6 6-4 6-3 in an hour and 52 minutes.