Match Report
‘Scrappy’ Shelton scores 100th win with late surge to survive Cobolli
American trailed 3-5 in final set
August 04, 2025
Peter Power/Tennis Canada
Ben Shelton converts three of nine break points to reach the Toronto quarter-finals.
By Arthur Kapetanakis
It looked as if Ben Shelton would be made to wait for his 100th tour-level win after falling behind 3-5 in the final set against Flavio Cobolli Sunday night at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. But the American, who had not created a break point since the last game of the opening set, surged down the stretch and sprinted through the finish line for a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1) victory.
Now 100-69 in his tour-level career, Shelton is the eighth man born in the 21st century and the ninth active American to reach the 100-wins mark. He will next seek another milestone — his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final — when he takes on Alex de Minaur in his fourth quarter-final at the prestigious level.
“Really difficult match. I was down and out, being a break down in the third, the way that he was playing,” Shelton said post-match. “I gave myself a second chance and I did a good job with it, kind of running from there. A really difficult opponent for me, someone who’s gotten me in three sets after I’ve won the first set twice.”
The result levelled the Lexus ATP Head2Head between the friends at 2-2, with Shelton also earning a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win in Acapulco this season. Cobolli succeeded for much of the match in limiting Shelton’s explosive game and dragging the American into rallies, but Shelton began to hit with confidence down the stretch and forced the Italian to save a match point just to reach the decisive tie-break.
“I thought I did a really good job rallying and finding a way to put returns in the court late in the match. I was struggling with my two biggest weapons, the serve and the first-ball forehand,” Shelton said. “Coming through in the end I think speaks a lot about my mental toughness and my ability to be scrappy in those moments, more so than my actual play.”
Shelton is into his third consecutive quarter-final after reaching that stage at Wimbledon and advancing to the semis last week in Washington, D.C. He is 16-7 this year on hard courts, including his run to the Australian Open semi-finals.
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Cobolli was denied the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking against the World No. 7. The Italian was seeking his first Top 10 win in a completed match, having beaten then-No. 9 Holger Rune via retirement in Madrid this April.
Shelton, who entered Toronto at a career-high in the PIF ATP Rankings, could move above Novak Djokovic to World No. 6 by winning his third ATP Tour title this week.Â
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