By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 30, 2025Photo credit: Geoff Robins/Tennis Canada/National Bank Open Facebook
Sprinting left, Ben Shelton lasered a running forehand strike that scorched the back edge of the baseline to seal the first set.
That thunderstrike in Paris reverberated all the way to Turin.
The 23-year-old Shelton stopped Andrey Rublev 7-6(6), 6-3 to charge into the Rolex Paris Masters quarterfinals and clinch his spot in the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.
It’s the 40th win of the season for Shelton—his second straight 40 win season—and seals his spot as the sixth man to qualify for the eight-man ATP finals field. Shelton joins Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, whose status for Turin is uncertain, and compatriot Taylor Fritz in qualifying for the ATP Finals, set for the Inalpi Arena, November 9-16th.
“I knew after last night going into today I could lock up my spot, I knew that’s what I was playing for today,” Shelton told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj afterward. “I just told my dad before I went on court: I got this chance to control my own destiny and there’s no way I’m going down today.
“I played one of my best matches of the year, which is crazy, because I haven’t been the most in-form and I’ve been trying to find it coming back since post-US Open. To find the level I’ve found today with my back against the wall, it was a pretty cool feeling.”
Today, Shelton served 74 percent, pumped 15 aces against no double faults and played arguably his most complete match since winning the National Bank Open Toronto title in August, highlighted by that superb running streak to seal the opening set.
How to 🔒 down a set, by @BenShelton #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/cefnyKE33X
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
About an hour after Shelton’s win, sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur locked down the seventh spot for the ATP Finals. De Minaur swept Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-2 to score his ATP-best 42nd hard-court win of the season to secure his second straight trip to Turin.
“I’m extremely stoked just to be able to bring this level under these circumstances,” said de Minaur, who will play 13th-seeded Alexander Bublik for a semifinal spot in Paris. “It means the world. Now, I can go out and enjoy it.
“I’m feeling physically great, which is already a much better version of myself than it was last year. Extremely stoked at my level. I’m very happy to have made it. I’m looking forward to hopefully doing damage over there.”
‘I played one of my best matches of the year’ 💪@BenShelton on delivering the goods today at #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/QPmZNaCwV4
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
The seventh-ranked Shelton improved to 40-20 on the season. Shelton is the fourth American to reach four ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals since the start of the 2010 season joining Andy Roddick in 2010, John Isner in 2015 and Fritz in 2023.
“My goal was to just get through my service games as easily as possible,” Shelton said. “Hit my spots, do what I’ve been doing since I got here. I’ve been in a great serving rhythm. It’s tough to break me when I’m serving like that.
“When it comes to the return games, just dig. Try to get every ball back in the court, try to get on top of him on the second serve return and find offense. But the way he was hitting the ball, it made it really, really difficult. So it wasn’t straight forward today. It was a lot of fighting, a lot of long points and a lot of running. Probably one of my more physical two-set matches I’ve ever had. To get over the line the way I did, breaking twice in the second set, I couldn’t be happier.”
The victory vaults Shelton into the quarterfinals against either reigning ATP Finals champion Sinner or Francisco Cerundolo.
