MONTREAL — American Ben Shelton continued to dominate his compatriot Brandon Nakashima and successfully defended his title at the National Bank Open. Shelton, the fifth seed, defeated Nakashima, the 28th seed, in two sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4), on Thursday evening on centre court at the IGA complex. He became the fourth player to successfully defend his title in Canada since the start of the new millennium, and the first since Rafael Nadal in 2019. It was the first all-American final at the Canadian tournament since 1995, when Andre Agassi defeated Pete Sampras. Shelton took 1 hour 27 minutes to secure the victory. He hit 22 winners, including seven aces, and committed just 12 unforced errors. Nakashima won the first game thanks to four aces, but that did not faze Shelton. He really got going in the sixth game, when he fired his first two aces of the match. Shelton broke Nakashima’s serve in the next game with a winning return. He did it again in the ninth game, producing two fine passing shots, including one on his first set point. Both players were very effective on serve during the second set, so a tie-break was needed to decide the outcome. Shelton pulled ahead with a forehand winner. It was with another winner that he converted his second match point and began to celebrate. Shelton has now won all six of his career matches against Nakashima on the ATP Tour. His victory in Montreal will see him rise from 10th to sixth in the world rankings in the next update. Nakashima was playing in his first final at a Masters 1000 tournament. He won his only career title in 2022 in his hometown of San Diego. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 13, 2026.
