Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton: 2023 Shanghai Masters - Preview & Prediction

09/10/2023 03:00 | by Evita Mueller

Jannik Sinner is currently on a winning streak, but Ben Shelton is eager to break the streak as they face each other in the Shanghai Masters.

This is by far the best season of Jannik Sinner's career. He's been a good player for a while, playing at the ATP Finals in 2021 as an alternate, but he's never put together a better season than this year.

He's the first Italian in almost 50 years to win 50 matches, and he hopes to keep that going. Ben Shelton is up next, a breakout star who recently played in the US Open semi-final.

He's been amazing this week in Shanghai and he certainly wants to keep it going but playing Sinner is far from easy. He just won the China Open and is looking really good without any signs of fatigue.

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Head-to-head:

We haven't seen this matchup so far, as this will be their first match. It's a fascinating matchup, especially in Shanghai, which suits both players differently. Sinner likes to hit the ball hard, and the balls flying slower gives him enough chance to set up properly and unleash his full power.

The court being faster than average gives Shelton a good chance to exert a lot of pressure with his serve albeit Sinner generally returns really well.

Prediction:

So, this match is kind of hard to predict. On the one hand, we have Shelton, who is playing solid tennis right now and fits well on the court, but he also called for a medical timeout against Safiullin, looking kind of injured.

Sinner is probably fatigued by now, but he's playing really well, finding the strength to keep going. Whether he can sustain it for a few more matches remains to be seen, but there are arguments as to why either player might not be at their best.

Stylistically, Sinner should have the upper hand unless he hits himself out of the match, so I'm going to back the Italian.

Prediction: Jannik Sinner to win in two sets.

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