Ben Shelton to win the tournament
Ben Shelton is the first seed in Auckland. Looking at the draw, Ben has a favorable draw until the final. The second and third seeds are Alejandro Tabilo and Sebastian Baez, who dominate the clay courts. Being a first seed, Ben will start in the 1/8-Finals, where he will probably face Jakub Mensik. After that, in the quarterfinals, Shelton will probably face Reilly Opelka, who looked strong in the Brisbane event before retiring in the final. In the semifinals, Reilly might face Francisco Cerundolo, who is primarily a clay court player.
The American played his last match in the Davis Cup last year, losing against Kokkinakis in three tight sets. He had a somewhat disappointing season last year. The previous year in Auckland, Shelton reached the semifinals, losing against Taro Daniel in tight straight sets. Shortly after, the young American reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing against Mannarino in five tight sets. We believe he is more experienced this season and learned from his mistakes.
Ben is well known for his powerful serve and huge forehand. His biggest weakness is his backhand, but he worked on it in the off-season. The surface in Auckland is really fast, so we expect him to dominate with his serve and win many free points off of it. He excelled on the hard courts in his career, and he will need to get his competitive rhythm before the Australian Open.
Our bet, Shelton winning the tournament is a value bet.
Mpetshi Perricard to at least reach the semifinals
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is the fifth seed in Auckland. His first-round opponent will be Yunchaokete Bu, who is currently out of form. We believe that Giovanni will reach the second round easily, where he will probably face Gael Monfils, who is 38 years old and has not been playing his best tennis for a while now. In the quarterfinals, Giovanni should face Cameron Norrie, who has been out of form for over a year. This will be his biggest challenge, but we trust Giovanni to have an upper hand in that meeting.
The young Frenchman had a decent run this week in Brisbane, eventually failing in the semifinals against Opelka. En route to the semifinals, Giovanni had solid wins against prominent hard-court players such as Tiafoe and Nick Kyrgios. Those wins will give him self-confidence for the upcoming tournaments. He had a breakthrough season last year and continued playing well this season as well. Right now, Mpetshi Perricard is aiming for a top-30 spot in the rankings.
We believe that his playing style, current form, and confidence will prevail this week. The conditions will be almost the exact same as in Brisbane, so the young Frenchman will have no problems adapting to the surface.
With that said, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard reaching at least the semifinals in Auckland is a value bet.
Head over to our tennis betting page if you’d like to bet on any of the ASB Classic matches.
