For the first time in 34 years, the American men have placed three in the semifinals at the Canadian Masters.
The American men cracked a milestone on Tuesday in Montreal, pushing three through to the semifinals at the Canadian Masters for the first time since 1991.
Brandon Nakashima (defeated Luciano Darderi), Ben Shelton (defeated Jakub Mensik) and Learner Tien (defeated Daniel Merida) to reach the final four at the Omnium Banque Nationale.
Nakashima, 25, and Tien, 20, have reached the last four of a Masters 1000 for the first time. Per the ATP, the feat was last achieved by Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl and MaliVai Washington in 1992.
Tien is the youngest American man to reach the semifinals at a Masters event since Andy Roddick in 2002.
Shelton, who won the title in Toronto last year, stretched his winning streak at the event to 10.
At least one American will get to the final.
Shelton will face Learner Tien in the semis. Tien took the pair’s first two meetings, at Mallorca in 2025 and at Indian Wells this year.
“I don’t think that he was close to his best when I played him in Indian Wells, um, but no matter how he’s feeling, he’s always gonna serve well. He’s always gonna hit a big ball off the baseline,” Tien said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. So, it’ll be really tough.”
Nakashima will take on Rafael Jodar, the rising Spaniard who is up to No.11 in the live rankings after defeating Arthur Fils on Tuesday.
The pair have never met before.
Chris Oddo. Chris Oddo is a freelance sportswriter, podcaster, blogger and social media marker who is a lead contributor to Tennisnow.com. He also writes for USOpen.org, Rolandgarros.com, BNPParibasOpen.com, TennisTV.com, WTAtennis.com and the official US Open program.
