Tuesday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Australian Open, Tommy Paul vs Ben Shelton
Tommy Paul vs Ben Shelton Best Bet: Tuesday, January 24th
The dream run for Ben Shelton continued against Alexei Popyrin, as well as against his American compatriot J.J. Wolf.
The NCAA champion now finds himself in the quarterfinals of one of sport’s biggest events for the very first time.
Next up, he takes on Tommy Paul. That will be the focus of our selection for Tuesday.
In this article:
Tommy Paul vs Ben Shelton Preview
January 24th, 22:30 (UK Time)
The serve has been a nightmare for opposition this week. Not only does he consistently hit the first serves with incredible power, but he also possesses a strong lefty slide serve that can pull opposition off the court and set himself up to win the point very quickly, even should he fail to hit an outright ace or unreturnable serve.
The numbers bear this out to this point as well. His hold rate of about 93% in 2023 is wild, considering how young he is. In his 16 sets of tennis, he’s only faced a grand total of 15 break points. He’s already one of the elite servers on tour, with plenty of time to continue improving and developing.
This is the sternest test he’s faced though. In each of his last three matches, he’s played three big servers with strong forehands, but none that are the most adept on return. His athleticism and shotmaking has proved to be the difference in each of those. This time, he’s playing someone much more competent when on return, as well as from the baseline.
Paul is more than capable of holding his own from the service line and should be talented enough to create a few more break points.
Tommy Paul vs Ben Shelton Best Bet
With Shelton’s dominance on serve and struggles on return (he still needs a more compact forehand backswing and could use more development in the point construction department), we should see another rather close, long affair.
My numbers have this one going four or five sets more often than not, with a tiebreak or two along the way, so I’m happy to play the total games over here, at a number under 40.
- Selection: Over 39.5 Games
- Best Odds: 1.93 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 3/10
Odds as at 5:00 am on January 20th, 2022. Odds may now differ.
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