When Flavio Cobolli plays in Toronto: history with Ben Shelton

The last Italian still in the running at the Toronto Masters 1000, Flavio Cobolli must immediately put behind him his success against Fabian Maroszan in the third round (6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on the Italian night between Friday and Saturday) to project himself to a difficult round of 16, against the American Ben Shelton, who precedes him in the ATP ranking by ten positions.

The match between the Italian, number 17 in the world rankings, and the Atlanta native, who instead occupies the number 7 box, will be staged at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto, on cement, no earlier than 5 p.m. Italian time (11 a.m. local time), unless organizers make any last-minute arrangements otherwise. The match can be seen via satellite on Sky Sports’ dedicated channels and streamed on NOW and Tennis Tv.

There are three previous matches between Flavio Cobolli and Ben Shelton, with a tally of two wins to one for the Italian: the latter won both times in 2024, first on clay in Geneva in the round of 16 and then on concrete in Washington in the semifinals. Shelton, on the other hand, won the only prcededent in 2025, again on cement, in the round of 16 at the Acapulco tournament.

As for the projection at the ranking level, Cobolli will inevitably lose points having failed to confirm in Washington, and will most likely drop out of the Top 20 at the next update. Shelton will also lose points, but the seventh ranking position does not appear to be in jeopardy ahead of Monday.