On Wednesday, the stage was set for an all-American semi-final—the first of the Canadian Open in fifteen years. Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz had warmed up and were ready to go. Then, suddenly, the Electronic Line Calling (ELC) played spoilsport, and both of them were asked to leave the court. However, the issue was resolved in about 15 minutes, and when the dust settled on the match, it was Ben Shelton who was still standing. But while Fritz was out of his way for good, the ELC came back to haunt his final match as well.

After defeating his compatriot Taylor Fritz in the SF of the 2025 Canadian Open by 6-4,6-3, Ben Shelton sent a message loud and clear. He wrote, “Even more uncharted territory. Humble and Hungry,” on the TV camera. This win has now helped Shelton rise to fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, and if he wins the final against Karen Khachanov, he will rise to a new career-high of number 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Surprisingly, however, the Russian got the better of Shelton in the first set by 7-6(5).

But Ben Shelton is fighting hard to get back in this match with a strong show in the second set. However, amid all this, the ELC struck again. Karen Khachanov was on serve at 2-2(15-15) in the second set when issues with the system came to light. Lines were working, but there were no audio calls at the moment. Hence, this resulted in a brief pause in this epic duel. After this 5-minute delay, Ben Shelton gave Khachanov the first serve and said, “It’s Christmas.” Classy from ‘Big Ben’!

This incident is, of course, reminiscent of the massive uproar that took place during this year’s grass-court major. Wimbledon, known for its exquisitely dressed line judges, decided to introduce the Electronic Line Calling system this year. However, several missed calls and system failures marred the introduction of the technology at the All England Club this year.

In one instance, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova claimed a game was stolen from her when Wimbledon’s ELC failed during her fourth-round match against Sonay Kartal. Even in Taylor Fritz’s QF match against Karen Khachanov, we witnessed a similar malfunction. A call of ‘fault’ was incorrectly announced during a rally, with the umpire having to stop the opening game of the fourth set. This brief stoppage in Ben Shelton’s match, yet again, points out the flaws in the technology. But this wasn’t the only stoppage in this match!

Victoria Mboko’s brilliance leaves Ben Shelton clueless

After defeating the four-time major champion, Naomi Osaka, in the final by 2-6,6-4,6-1, Victoria Mboko became the second youngest woman to beat four Grand Slam champions (Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka) in a single event. She’s now also the fifth-youngest champion at the Canadian Open since the introduction of the Tier I format in 1990. There was plenty of buzz surrounding this teenager in this tournament.

In her previous match, the fans were even spotted celebrating Elena Rybakina’s mistakes. Commenting on this unusual reception from the crowd, Rybakina later said, “Yeah, that wasn’t nice, of course. I played in a lot of situations where the crowd was supporting the player, but I would say that here it was pretty tough from the very beginning.” Just before the final, even Naomi Osaka admitted that she heard the huge applause from the fans when she won the match against Rybakina.

Now, in a similar incident, we witnessed a brief pause in Ben Shelton’s match against Karen Khachanov. As the news of Mboko’s victory reached Toronto, the decibels got so high inside the stadium that both the ATP stars looked a bit confused about the reason for this huge celebration. But shortly after that, the chair umpire explained to Shelton, “I guess the Canadian player (Victoria Mboko) has won in Montreal.” However, despite the interruptions, Ben Shelton now looks desperate to make a comeback in the final battle in Toronto. Can he do it?