World no 1 Jannik Sinner aim to go deep in yet another big tournament in Shanghai, on Wednesday he needs to overcome young American Ben Shelton to progress. Read on for our Sinner vs Shelton predictions.
The Italian has been the best player on the tour this season and is clear no 1 in the ATP rankings. He had to turn things around in the previous round against Tomas Martin Etcheverry but as always, Sinner found a way to win (6-7(3), 6-4 6-2). He has reached at least the quarter-final of each tournaments he played this season.
In the last two months, Sinner only lost 1 match, the China Open final to Alcaraz. That was an extremely close match and it almost felt a bit unusual to not see Sinner come out on top
We also have to remember that Jannik is still under pressure regarding the recent doping case, and now WADA wants to ban him from further competitions. We will have to wait and see how that pans out but so far he does not seem distracted while on court.
Ben Shelton was impressive in his win over Roberto Carballes Baena by winning 91% of first serve points and 67% on his second deliveries. So far he has yet to lose a set in Shanghai and even face a single break point.
H2H
Sinner has a 3-1 lead in their internal stats, but you might remember that Ben Shelton beat Sinner a year ago in this tournament in the round of 16, actually in their first meeting on the tour.
The last game between these two players was at this year’s Wimbledon where Sinner won in three straight sets.
Odds and Predictions
An energetic Shelton will surely cause Sinner some problems, not at least with his extreme serve.
The odds show Sinner as a huge favorite at 1.19 and it’s not really an option. A Ben Shelton victory pays 5 times the money but it’s a big ask to beat the best player in the world, no matter his form. He rarely lose big so we will go for the following handicap bet: Game Handicap, Shelton, Ben (+3.5)
