Defending champion Ben Shelton downs Zizou Bergs to advance in NBO Open men’s tennis

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“The outcome was really good today, but I don’t think the score tells the whole story.”

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The world No. 10 is now the highest-ranked player remaining in the men’s singles draw. Just a dozen of the tournament’s 32 seeds remain.

Shelton reached the fourth round of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in 2026 after failing to string together consecutive wins at any of the ATP’s signature tournaments.

“I’ve had a weird year at the 1000s,” said Shelton. “It’s been difficult for me, but these two tournaments over the summer (Canada and Cincinnati), I always play well at. Losing so early at the 1000s the way I did earlier in the year was more fluky.

“I think that the way these tournaments are set up, especially the hard-court events, there is no reason that I shouldn’t be able to make some runs at these tournaments.”

Both players held serve through the first five games Friday before Shelton broke in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. He held serve the rest of the way to close out the opening set 6-3.

The American broke again in the fifth game of the second set, aided by an ill-timed double fault and the third of the match from Bergs.

Shelton then broke Bergs for a second time in the set to move within a game of victory before serving out the match.

In addition to his two breaks of serve in the second set, Shelton won all 16 of his service points in the set, including 12 coming on his first serve. Overall, in the match, Shelton won 87 per cent of his first serve points.

Nevertheless, Shelton was not all too satisfied with his overall service game.

“It was good,” said Shelton. “I just said it could be better … I was well below my average in aces. I spot served well today. I could have done a better job with my slider, in my opinion. I had to flat serve really well. First serve percentage was good, but, like I said, could be better, could be worse.”

Shelton’s dissatisfaction with his overall performance was evident even after the match, when he returned to the IGA Stadium practice courts to put in some additional work.

“I think, for me, it’s good sometimes, especially when you have a day off tomorrow (Saturday), to be able to put in the work today and take tomorrow a little bit lighter,” he said. “I’ll still practice, for sure, but nice to just go out and work on a few things while I’m still warm and it’s still fresh on my mind.”

The 23-year-old Shelton meets either ninth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud or 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca in Sunday’s fourth round.

Earlier Friday, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor upset No. 30 seed and 2024 National Bank Open semifinalist Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Griekspoor, who stunned top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round, reached the Round of 16 at a Masters 1000 event for the fifth time in his career and first time this season.

“It’s never easy coming back after such a good win two days ago where I also played at a really high level,” said Griekspoor.

“I was struggling a bit with the balls early on, but fought my way into it and played pretty well at the end of the second set and beginning of the third set where I felt like I made the difference.”

His next opponent is 21-year-old Spaniard Daniel Merida, who defeated American Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 on Rogers Court.

Merida has won nine of his last 10 matches since Wimbledon and reached the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time. The victory also propelled him into the ATP’s top 50 for the first time in his career.

Griekspoor is joined in the Round of 16 by his Dutch compatriot Botic van de Zandschulp, who stormed back to edge out Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

It marks the second time multiple Dutchmen reach the Round of 16 of the same ATP Masters 1000 event after Griekspoor and van de Zandschulp first achieved the feat at the 2023 Paris Masters.

Friday evening’s session featured No. 13 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia beating Frenchman Terence Atmane 7-5, 6-4, while Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante defeated Australia’s Alexei Popyrin — the 2024 NBO Open champion — 6-3, 6-4.

And in the final match of the evening Learner Tien defeated Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2 in an all-American showdown.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2026.

Jordan Stoopler, The Canadian Press