By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 8, 2026
Photo credit: Antoine Couvercelle/ROLEX
The tennis ball will be a wrecking ball when Joao Fonseca faces Ben Shelton in a blockbuster Montreal rematch.
Fonseca fended off Casper Ruud 7-6(6), 6-3 to set up a round of 16 showdown with defending-champion Shelton on Sunday. That match will be a rematch of the Munich quarterfinals last spring that saw Shelton stop Fonseca, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Fonseca, who has knocked off Grand Slam finalists Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ruud in succession, expects a match of first-strike tennis against Shelton.
The 19-year-old Brazilian says his approach vs. Shelton, the lone Top 10 player still standing, is simple: Let it roll.
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“Tough one, for sure. Ben is a huge player. He likes the surface,” Fonseca said. “Here the ball is
bouncing high. So his serve is going to be harder than it normally is.
“But, yeah, I think this year I learned so much and had some more experience. And, yeah, I’m pretty confident in the match. I’m feeling good on court.
“So just let it roll and let’s try to rest more and be ready for it Sunday.”
The left-handed Shelton struck seven aces and won 38 of 45 first-serve points in his Munich win over Fonseca. In the final set, Shelton did not face a break point and closed with conviction throwing down successive love holds.
Afterward, Shelton said he enjoyed facing the buzz the Brazilian brings to court.
“He’s an electric player—one of the fastest-rising stars we’ve seen on tour,” Shelton said. “It’s been really cool to watch his trajectory.
“For me, sharing the court with him is a privilege. He brings great energy, has fans all over the world, and I really enjoy that kind of atmosphere.”
In his National Bank Open defense, Shelton has not surrendered a set and rides an eight-match Canadian Open winning streak into the rematch with Fonseca.
“I’ve had a weird year at the 1000s,” said Shelton, who scored back-to-back wins at a Masters 1000 for the first time this season. “It’s been difficult for me, but these two tournaments over the summer [Canada and CincinnatiI always play well at.
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“I think that, for me, you know, losing so early at the 1000s the way I did early in the year was more flukey. And I think that the way these tournaments are set up, especially the hard court events, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be able to make some runs at these tournaments.
“It’s something that I struggled with a lot early in my career, adjusting to having the day off. But I do feel really comfortable at these tournaments now, and, yeah, glad to break that that I was going through this year.”
The winner of the Shelton vs. Fonseca match could face Jakub Mensik for a semifinal spot if the 13th-seeded Czech beats Botic van de Zandschulp. Mensik defeated Fonseca in the French Open quarterfinals in June.
Richard Pagliaro. Richard Pagliaro is Tennis Now Managing Editor. He is a graduate of New York University and has covered pro tennis for more than 35 years. Richard was tennis columnist for Gannett Newspapers in NY, served as Managing Editor for TennisWeek.com and worked as a writer/editor for Tennis.com. He has been TennisNow.com managing editor since 2010.