Rafa Jódar continued his rise in the ATP after defeating Arthur Fils at the Canadian Open quarter-finals, in one hour 42 minutes and 7-6 (5), 6-3 the exact same result from their previous encounter just days ago at the Washington Open. The 19-year-old Spaniard is the first player born in 2006 or later to reach the last four of an ATP Masters 1,000 event, and many see him as favourite for the semi-final against the American Brandon Nakashima tonight (00:00 of Thursday in Central European time).
Jódar, in his first senior season, will reach World No. 11 with this result, and could rise up to World No. 9 depending on other results if he gets the crown in Canada on Friday. He is already seventh in the ATP Race to Turin ranking, ranking the best players of the season, therefore he would have a place in the ATP Finals.
On the other side, Ben Shelton, defending champion in Canada, dominated Jakub Mensik 6-3, 6-1 and will face Learner Tien in the semi-final. A final between Shelton, current World No. 10, and Jódar, sounds like the most plausible scenario for an ATP Masters without the top players, but many of the young players that will define the future of the ATP.
Canadian Open semi-finals (Thursday, August 13)
- Rafa Jódar vs. Brandon Nakashima: 00:00 CEST, 23:00 BST (of Wednesday)
- Learner Tien vs. Ben Shelton: not before 01:00 CEST, 00:10 BST
