American guarantees his spot with win Thursday in Paris

Ben Shelton qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday when he reached the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters, leaving only one spot remaining at the season finale in Turin.

Shelton will play in the year-end championships for the first time after a career-best season in which he made his second major semi-final and claimed ATP Masters 1000 glory for the first time.

With Shelton and Taylor Fritz in the field, it is the first time two American singles players will compete for the Brad Drewett Trophy since 2006, when James Blake and Andy Roddick were in the field. Blake advanced to the final that year.

Shelton made a quick start to his 2025 campaign by reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open, where only eventual champion Jannik Sinner was able to stop him.

The big-serving lefty made the Munich final in April and in June cracked the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, becoming the fourth lefty from the United States to do so (since 1973). He joined Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner.

But the former college tennis standout's biggest moment came in Toronto where, then 22, he became the youngest American Masters 1000 champion since 21-year-old Roddick triumphed in Miami in 2004.

Shelton joined Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Fritz in the Nitto ATP Finals field. Only two singles spots remain at the season finale, with Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti currently seventh and eighth, respectively, in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.