MONTREAL/WASHINGTON, August 9, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
While the National Bank Open presented by Rogers has been defined by big names going out early – such as World No. 3 and top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 4 seed Daniel Medvedev of Russia and No. 7 seed Taylor Fritz of the United States, who on Monday won the DC Open title, one who hasn’t been sidelined has been reigning champion and World No. 10 Ben Shelton.
Shelton is the only Top-10 player left in the ATP Masters 1000 field. He’s also one of three Americans remaining in the Montreal draw, along with No. 12 seed Learner Tien and No. 28 seed Brandon Nakashima.
On Friday, the fifth-seeded Shelton continued his title defense by defeating No. 31 seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium in straight sets to advance against No. 22 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil, who eliminated No. 9 seed Casper Ruud of Norway.
The crown stays on 👑@BenShelton makes it 8⃣ on the bounce in Canada, defeating Bergs 6-3, 6-2!@OBNmontreal | #NBO26 pic.twitter.com/un2zK4MOJR
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 7, 2026
Shelton, who has reached the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time this season, will square off with the 27th-ranked Fonseca on Sunday.
“It’s one of the tougher tournaments to be consistent at, because it switches location each year,” Shelton said Friday during his news conference after beating Bergs. “But for me, it’s huge. Obviously being my first Masters1000 title, it’s always going to be a special tournament being here and a really cool experience that I had here last year.”
La défense du titre se poursuit👊
Ben Shelton remporte un deuxième match en deux manches à Montréal, et garde le pied sur l’accélérateur à l’#OBN26
Pour en savoir plus 🔗 https://t.co/kZZnwx5u8Z pic.twitter.com/PObshtmOMB
— Omnium Banque Nationale (@OBNmontreal) August 7, 2026
Joining Shelton in the fourth round on Friday were No. 69 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, who eliminated Zverev in the second round; No. 13 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia; No. 70 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, and No. 63 Daniel Merida of Spain. On Sunday, Griekspoor will face Merida, Tien will oppose No. 65 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina, and Mensik will play van de Zandschulp.
On Saturday, the round of 16 began with the first four of eight fourth-round matches.
• First, No. 19 seed Luciano Darderi of Italy, who was seeking to reach his 20th ATP Tour quarterfinal and to become the first man to reach 10 tour-level quarterfinals this season, defeated No. 55 Nuno Borges of Portugal, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in two hours and 22 minutes for his 30th victory of season. He hit 18 winners and outpointed Borges 96-95. The loss denied Borges of become the first Portuguese men’s quarterfinalist at this event in the Open Era.
Another QF stamped ✉️@Lucianodarderi_ books his place in the last eight with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Borges, his tour-leading 10th quarter-final of 2026!@OBNmontreal | #NBO26 pic.twitter.com/zDtn3WIPtD
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 8, 2026
• Second No. 23 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France faced his second-straight American, No. 28 seed Brandon Nakashima after advancing Thursday by injury retirement over No. 15 seed Frances Tiafoe. Nakashima, who was looking for the biggest quarterfinal in his career after going 0-5 in round of 16 matches at ATP Masters 1000 level, held off Rinderknech, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-5, in two hours and 51 minutes. The match was interrupted by rain for an hour and 40 minutes with the scored tied 4-all in the third set. Nakashima struck 16 aces and hit 36 winners.
Big stage Brandon ✨
Nakashima edges past Rinderknech 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5 to earn the biggest quarter-final of his career!@OBNmontreal | #NBO26 | @b_nakashima pic.twitter.com/m6I9VhXu8d
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 9, 2026
• The start of the night session was delayed due to the earlier rain. However, it featured by a showdown between No. 8 seed Jiri Lehecka of Czechia and No. 20 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain, who was a finalist at the DC Open. The 19-year-old Jodar beat Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 in 74 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals in the seventh of eighth tournaments he’s played in since the start of April, including Madrid and Rome. Jodar denied Lehecka of a third Top-20 win of the season after defeating then-No. 7 Taylor Fritz of the United States en route to the Miami Open final and then-No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti 0f Italy to reach the Rome quarterfinals.
Third consecutive Masters 1000 quarter-fiinal 👌
Jodar hurries past Lehecka 6-3 6-3 to become the first teen in Montreal last 8 since 2018!#NBO26 pic.twitter.com/qVaaR6Sz70
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 9, 2026
• Finally, No. 18 seed Arthur Fils of France opposed unseeded and 37th-ranked Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, who knocked out No. 3 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia in the third round on Thursday, for the first time late Saturday evening. Fils looked to reach his fourth ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the season after Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid. Meanwhile, Norrie looked to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal outside of the United States.
Around IGA Stadium
Two first round and five second round doubles matches dotted the Saturday order of play. No. 1 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten defeated Andre Goransson of Sweden and Casper Ruud of Norway, 6-4, 7-6 (6), to advance to the quarterfinal round. Also, No. 7 seeds Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Manuel Guinard of France advanced to the quarterfinals with an 6-3, 6-4 victory over Matteo Arnaldi and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
By the numbers
Ben Shelton is now 25-7 in matches played in North American since July last year, highlighted by his winning the biggest title of his career in Toronto last year. After defeating Jenson Brooksby and Zizou Bergs this week in Montreal, he’s garnered back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 wins for the first time this season.
“Quotable …”
“I’ve had a weird year at the 1000s. It’s been difficult for me, but these two tournaments over the summer I always play well at.
“I think that for me, 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.”
– Ben Shelton of the United States, during his post-match news conference after advancing to the round of 16 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Zizou Bergs.
