Karen Khachanov explains the difference between Ben Shelton and Alexander Zverev after facing both in Canada

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Karen Khachanov picked up some mightily impressive wins in Canada as he continues to impress on the ATP Tour.

When Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic all withdrew from the Canadian Open, fans wondered who would rise to the top in their absence.

Russia’s Karen Khachanov, perhaps the most underrated player on the ATP Tour, didn’t need to be asked twice, as he stepped up to the plate.

Taking down the likes of Alex Michelsen and Casper Ruud, the 2018 Paris Masters champion advanced to the semifinals, where he took on Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

In three sets, Khachanov defeated Zverev 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, picking up his highest-ranked win in two years.

Moving on to the final, the 29-year-old narrowly missed out on the title, as Khachanov lost to Ben Shelton in a deciding-set tiebreaker, 7-6 [7-5], 4-6, 6-7, [3-7].

Comparing the efforts of Shelton and Zverev during his post-match press conference, Khachanov highlighted the key difference between the two top-ten players.

Karen Khachanov says Ben Shelton was serving like ‘crazy’ compared to Alexander Zverev

After the match, Khachanov was asked to reflect on the deciding-set tiebreakers in the semifinals and final, as he compared his two opponents.

“You know, it’s two different players. Two different players, two different matches,” he said.

“It’s true that Sascha [Alexander Zverev] is also a big server, but in the tiebreaker, he didn’t put too many first serves in. So that was already different, because the balls were more in play, so it was more about the rallies.

“I would say the same about today [vs Ben Shelton], that if there would be rallies, maybe I was dominating and getting more of the rallies in my hand, that’s the feeling, at least I had. 

“But then he served it out like crazy. I mean, he put all the serves in, made aces.

“So I give all the credit to him to kind of step up and, let’s say, get this win, in the tiebreaker I mean especially, you know.

“It’s not about only my offense. Let’s say, I didn’t have a chance to be in the offense, you know, first you need to return. So he really served it out. I would say that was the difference in the tiebreaker.”

Shelton’s serve was impeccable in the third-set tiebreaker, making several aces to take his match tally to 16.

The 22-year-old American is one of the best servers on the ATP Tour today, as players struggle to figure out the lefty.

Discussing the difficulties of facing a left-handed server, Khachanov provided some interesting analysis.

“It’s different because he’s lefty. Obviously, it’s a huge serve, big serve, I mean, not only in terms of kilometers, but in terms of the placement and the variety, I would say,” he said.

“So that’s why it makes it very unique and different, and you need a lot of time to not only adjust, but even adjusting sometimes is not enough.

“So saying that, you know, I would say, because I played against lefties, big servers, but it’s different because you know if you come forward and he serves, let’s say slice or kick body. Then you go back, he serves open wide. Then sometimes he goes full. So you really don’t know what to expect.

“Then you have to not only make the return in play, but then he comes with a big game after that.

“So it’s not just to push the ball back, you need to really return properly, so that makes it tough, all of him.”

With Shelton’s serve continuing to trouble his rivals, there’s perhaps no surprise that the youngster has now become an established member of the ATP top ten.

Ben Shelton set to jump ahead of Novak Djokovic in the world rankings

When the next set of rankings are released, Shelton will reach a new career-high of sixth in the world.

Jumping ahead of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, Shelton has further cemented his place in the top ten.

If he can continue to play as well as he did in Toronto, you wouldn’t be surprised to see Shelton make a top-five breakthrough before too long.

Shelton is currently scheduled to return to action at the Cincinnati Open, where he will play either Camilo Ugo Carabelli or Kei Nishikori on Saturday, August 9.