One point away from defeat, 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov escaped to defeat top-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday in the semifinals of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
The 29-year-old Russian will oppose fourth-seeded Ben Shelton in the championship match. Shelton downed second-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in an all-U.S. semifinal late Wednesday night.
Shelton, 22, is headed to his first career ATP Masters 1000 final.
Khachanov is through to the final of a Masters 1000 event for just the second time, following his championship at the Paris Masters in 2018. Four other times Khachanov was a Masters 1000 semifinalist, including at the Canadian event in 2018 and 2019.
His best results at Grand Slam tournaments were semifinals losses at the 2022 U.S. Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
Zverev had a match point at 5-6 on Khachanov’s serve in the third set, but the German came up short in a bid to reach his first Masters 1000 final of the year. Zverev won Masters 1000 tournaments in Rome and Paris in 2024.
Down 3-1 in the third-set tiebreaker, Khachanov won the next five points, then sealed the victory on his second match point.
“I had to dig deep and lift my level,” Khachanov said. “It was a very demanding, very mental, very physical match. So I’m very happy to get the win after losing some easy ones to him in recent years.
“Today was a real close one. I was match point down. If the ball touches the net and drops over, we wouldn’t be talking now.”
The match stats weren’t impressive, as both players had more unforced errors (44 for Zverev, 34 for Khachanov) than winners (36 for Zverev, 29 for Khachanov).
Shelton dominated with his serve. He recorded seven aces without committing a double fault, won 86 percent of his first-serve points (25 of 29) and saved both break points that he faced.
“I’ve seen so many big improvements in my game this week, that’s what I’m most happy about, how I’m executing, how little I’m hesitating, how I’m returning,” said Shelton, who followed up a quarterfinal victory over ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia. “There are a lot of things to be proud about and beating two Top 10 guys back to back is huge for me. …
“I’m just really excited to see myself executing like this, not wondering if the shot is going to go in or out, but expecting it to go in.”
Shelton beat Khachanov in their lone matchup, during the third round at Indian Wells, Calif., this spring.
–Field Level Media
