Taylor Fritz vs. Ben Shelton: Where to Watch, ATP Toronto Preview

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Estimated start time: 8:10 p.m. ET, Wednesday, August 6

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Taylor Fritz vs. Ben Shelton: Match Preview

In 2024, the battle for American bragging rights on the men’s side was held in the US Open semifinals, when Fritz came back to beat Frances Tiafoe in five sets. This year, a mini version of that same battle will take place on Wednesday night in Toronto, when Fritz plays Shelton. They’re the top two Americans—Fritz is ranked No. 4, Shelton is No. 7—and they’re both in a good run of form at the moment. This is a match we could see again in a few weeks, in the later rounds of the US Open.

They’ve met once before, two years ago in Indian Wells. Shelton won the first set, before Fritz came back to win the match in three. Since then, they’ve been in the same sections of draws quite a few times, but one or the other has lost before they’ve had a chance to face off. Shelton sounds ready to take another crack at his “great friend.”

“I played him kind of right when I came out on tour,” Shelton says. “We had a great battle in Indian Wells. I never played him in the later stages of a tournament, that was the first or second round. I’m really excited.”

We’ve heard a lot this week about how difficult the court-and-ball combination is in Toronto. They’re both fast, which has made for error-filled matches and annoyed players (be careful what you wish for when you say you want surfaces to be faster again). Fritz and Shelton have made their share of mistakes, too, but they’ve both cut them out when they’ve needed to. Shelton won two matches, over Brandon Nakashima and Flavio Cobolli, in third-set tiebreakers. Fritz may have gone him one better when he came back from 2-4 down in a third-set breaker to beat Jiri Lehecka.

“He’s a big-match player,” Shelton says. “He’s been carrying the flag for the United States in the big tournaments as of late. He’s clutch.”

If anything, though, Shelton has been more impressive this week. Along with his own clutch wins, he beat No. 8 Alex de Minaur in convincing, straight-set fashion on Tuesday, and even won his share of the long rallies while doing it.

“I thought I was playing a little bit within my limits. I wasn’t pressing,” Shelton said. “For me it was really important to just stay solid.”

Is this Shelton’s moment to grab the flag from his older countryman? My only hesitation in saying yes is that he looked dangerous heading into the quarters at Wimbledon and the semis in D.C., only to come up short, or run out of gas, in those moments. I’ll say Shelton has another good performance in him this time. Winner: Shelton

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