Colton Smith has had better days. Well, that’s not entirely true: Smith has had one better day.  The 22-year-old enjoyed a breakout moment on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open, earning his first Masters 1000 and ATP win by defeating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Stadium 7. 

Asked where the emotional victory ranks, the Washington native carefully told reporters the truth: it was the second best moment of his life.  “This is No. 2,” he said, his camouflage hat pulled tightly over his head. 

Later, it was clarified. Smith’s best moment?  “It was a week in Idaho with my sister, elk hunting. We didn’t get anything but it was just the time together.” An ardent fly fisher who grew up on a farm near Olympia, Washington, Smith looks the part, from his stubbled face to gargantuan tattoo that runs shoulder to elbow, down his left arm. 

There is a salt of the earth vibe about him.

After defeating Fabio Fognini on Day 1 of qualifying at Indian Wells, he said “If you added up everybody in the stands right now, that’s probably the same amount of people that I’ve played in front of in my whole career.” 

They’ll be lining up to watch him now. What a difference a few days at Indian Wells can make in the career of a rising young tennis player. 

Smith, a senior at the University of Arizona, had never faced a player ranked inside the Top 100 before he met the former World No. 9 (currently 95) in qualifying on Monday. After his win over 40th-ranked Cobolli beneath a picturesque blue sky at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Smith is a perfect 2-0 against the Top 100. 

“Whoah,” he said when told of this statistic. “I didn’t even think about that. That’s pretty cool.” 

Smith will look to keep his infallibility intact when he faces 31st-seeded Alex Michelsen in the second round on Friday in the California desert. Whatever happens he is happy to have achieved a monumental breakthrough, and stoked to be part of a class of young Americans that is now pushing to break through on the sports’ biggest stages.

“Just to be able to get through the first round of qualies was huge,” Smith said on Wednesday. “Then you start seeing some other guys doing it. Seeing (former Georgia Bulldog) Ethan Quinn get through his first round as well, then he got through his second round. Then (former Texas Longhorn) Eliot Spizzirri getting through his first round as well." 

“Just seeing some of these college guys doing it is super motivating but then you get through qualies and you start feeling like anything can happen. It was super motivating, just seeing that these guys are doing it and [thinking] maybe I can do it as well.”

Smith says his father, who is a firefighter, was the one who first got him into tennis. The World No. 261 started with ping pong then graduated to tennis by age seven. He said he bounced around from club to club “Not really knowing if I was going to stick with it or not.” 

His father ended up installing the courts at a local club, called Capitol City, which allowed Smith to train there for free. 

“Super fun while we had the time there,” said Smith, “And that was the time where I started working with my childhood coach, Jody Rush, which was huge in my development with tennis, being able to have him throughout my junior career, and a lot of my college career too, was amazing.”

Smith is a firm believer that if he continues to work on his game, his chances of success on the pro tour are good. "If I can keep improving at the rate that I have been improving then I don’t see any reason that there should be any ceiling on my tennis,” he said. A formative moment bolstered Smith’s confidence at the start of 2025, when he claimed his first challenger title in Cleveland. 

“That was one of the coolest experiences,” the No.3-ranked player in the current ITA rankings said. “Being able to play some really big names and get through them. It was just a really fun week and I felt like as a player I improved a ton, but I also figured out some things, the things I need to do to take my game to the next level.” 

Three days after taking his place in the qualifying draw in at the BNP Paribas Open, Smith finds himself at the next level he speaks of, with an opportunity to reach the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 waiting. He’s come a long way from the indoor courts of Olympia, Washington, and the best is surely yet to come.