By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, August 9, 2026
Photo credit: Mubadala DC Open Facebook
Down an early break in both sets, Ben Shelton showed all-court acumen and tiebreak toughness to continue his Canadian roll.
Defending champion Shelton surged past Joao Fonseca, 6-3, 7-6(3), to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the season in Montreal today.
It is Shelton’s ninth straight win at the National Bank Open, following his title triumph a year ago when the tournament was staged in Toronto.
Shelton showed a strong closing kick to both sets advancing to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, and first since last October when he reached the last eight at the Rolex Paris Masters losing to Jannik Sinner, 6-3, 6-3.
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“It’s always a confidence builder when you’re down a break and you get it back,” Shelton said. “Had two huge games at the beginning of each set today, which kind of set me back, but I was having return and kind of got back in the match.
“So definitely look to not have those type of issues.”
The fifth-seeded Shelton will face Roland Garros semifinalist Jakub Mensik for a semifinal spot.
The 13th-seeded Mensik defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-5.
Attacking behind his slice backhand at times, Shelton won 14 of 18 trips to net and hit 26 winners, 11 more than Fonseca, defeating the Brazilian for the second time in as many meetings.
“I knew it was going to be difficult to return today. Well, I had my chances,” Fonseca said. “Two early breaks in both sets, but played bad.
“What can I say? I played bad and didn’t play good and need some work on it.”
Shelton surrendered serve in the opening game of the match, but bounced back to break back immediately. Shelton, who was reading Fonseca’s serve, broke again for 5-3.
The left-handed American won 10 consecutive points on serve to close a one-set lead.
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In another quick start, Fonseca flicked a topspin lob winner over the leaping American breaking for a 2-0 second-set lead.
The 19-year-old Fonseca held at 30 stretching his lead to 3-0.
Serving up 3-1 in the second set, Fonseca strained his right foot pushing off awkwardly for a volley. Hunched over, he pressed his finger against the top of his foot.
Fonseca, who incurred a time violation warning from chair umpire Fergus Murphy earlier in the game, badly bungled a smash to face break point. Shelton broke back for 2-3.
A frustrated Fonseca punched his legs a couple of times staving off a break point to hold for 6-5.
Responding with a varied serve attack, Shelton stamped his third love hold of the set to force the tiebreaker.
Lasering a forehand winner down the line, Shelton opened the breaker with a mini break then hit a heavy kick serve to extend to 3-0. When Fonseca sent a crosscourt backhand wide, the reigning champion had a fistful of match points at 6-2.
“The wind was struggling for both of us. Not going to put why I lost because of the wind, I lost because the conditions,” Fonseca said. “No, I think I just played bad.
“He deserved to win. He likes playing short rallies, because long rallies for him, I mean, for us was going to be difficult because of the wind.
“But, yeah, I mean he served well. I served bad. Congratulations to him.”
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On his second match point, Shelton unloaded a biting body serve closing in one hour, 48 minutes.
“Played a great tiebreaker. I played a clean tiebreaker,” Shelton said. “Only one really bad miss that I wasn’t proud of.
“I don’t think I lost a point on serve. That’s always important. And that was the turning point, putting pressure there. For me it was my return of serve, being able to get into his service game.”
Shelton improved his tiebreaker record to 21-12 on the season and improved his overall record to 30-12.
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.