Ben Shelton vs Jordan Thompson: 2023 Japan Open Tokyo - Preview & Prediction

18/10/2023 00:45 | by Evita Mueller

Ben Shelton is still winning, but can he do that against the very tricky Jordan Thompson at the 2023 Japan Open in Tokyo?

Ben Shelton put together his best run at an ATP 1000 event recently in Shanghai, where compatriot Sebastian Korda proved too hard to overcome. The American continued his East Asia exploits in Tokyo, where he won a really close opening-round match against native player Taro Daniel.

His next match promises to be a more complicated one because he's facing a tougher player who played an amazing match in round one. Thompson bested Alexander Zverev in his first match in Tokyo and he'll be looking to do that against Shelton.

Head-to-head:

Shelton and Thompson actually played once against each other. It happened last year at the Chicago ATP Challenger, with Shelton emerging on top in a very close 2-set battle.

Something similar will likely happen here as well, though a lot will depend on the fitness of Shelton. Questioning his fitness seems laughable, but he's played quite a bit of tennis lately, and over time, that fatigue does build up.

'Normal To Have A Little Bit Of A Down' After Becoming World No. 1 For Sabalenka

Tuesday, 17 October 2023

Prediction:

When it comes to the matchup, well, the serve will be crucial for both of them. Shelton has the far better serve out of the two, but Thompson has a sneaky good as well.

It might not be as powerful, but it's equally effective, and he's got some crafty ways of using it to his advantage. Their Chicago match featured a tiebreak which had 26 points so that tells you how dominant they can be on their serve.

With the courts in Tokyo playing quite fast, it will certainly amount to a lot of quick points and a close match. In that type of situation, I weirdly prefer Thompson simply because fatigue did look like a factor in Shelton's match against Daniel, and playing a three-setter certainly didn't help.

Prediction: Jordan Thompson to win in three sets.

Tiafoe Suffers Yet Another Surprising Loss At Japan Open In Tokyo