Ben Shelton came back from being down a set to capture his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open on Thursday (August 7), defeating Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3).

For the biggest win of his career, the No.7 player in the world took down Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur, and American second seed Taylor Fritz to win his first Masters 1000 title. Shelton is now the youngest American man to win a Masters 1000 since Andy Roddick at Miami in 2004.

During the match, Shelton had seven of his 16 aces in the third set and went on to victory by winning 14 consecutive points on serve. 

"I feel like it was a perfect storm for me this week," Shelton said after his victory. "A lot of tight matches and long matches. I played some of the best tennis that I've played this year."

Bryan Shelton, his father and coach, added that Ben relied on all the practice time he put in, which gave him his big win

"He went for his shots, trusted the work that he's put in, and he executed," said Bryan. "Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. But it's always nice when you can leave a tournament and hold a trophy up in your hands because it's rare."

One of the components of Ben’s game that has vastly improved is the command of his serve, according to Bryan.

“He’s a little bit more accurate,” Bryan said. “He’s not willing to leave the ball hanging in zones where people can attack, even if he has to miss it. I’d rather him miss sometimes than give them confidence by putting it in their strike zone.”

With all the momentum in the world, Ben will have the opportunity to break the  22-year Grand Slam drought for American men at the upcoming US Open.