World number 35 Ben Shelton will be up against the 49th-ranked Alexander Bublik in the second round of the 2023 ATP Rome Open on Friday, May 12. Get the predictions and odds of this Ben Shelton v Alexander Bublik match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Ben Shelton v Alexander Bublik Head to Head
No previous meetings have been had between Shelton and Bublik before this.
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Shelton Opts to Feature in a Challenger Tournament
Shelton’s stock had risen considerably earlier this season when he made it all the way up to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before fellow American Tommy Paul got the better of him.
Since then, however, the only time that Shelton has managed to successive matches was last week on the Challenger circuit. Featuring in the Cagliari Challenger, he won a couple of rounds to make the quarterfinals before Laslo Djere got the better of him.
Unfortunately for Shelton, he hasn’t done too much else of note on clay.
Having featured in Estoril, Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, Shelton has won just two matches and neither of them at any of the Masters 1000 tournaments on this surface. That would be of a great concern for Shelton who enters this match as only a very slight favourite against an equally struggling Bublik.
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Bublik Dodges the Martinez Bullet
The rate at which Bublik is smashing his racquets, he might not be left with one very soon. Already in the news for breaking three of them in a match in Montpellier in February, Bublik followed that up with one more in the first round here against Pedro Martinez.
Fortunately for Bublik, that outburst did not cost him too much more than just the racquet as he claimed his second round berth with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Martinez.
Bublik was on court for an hour and 47 minutes and was broken once in the entire encounter before coming through. That came in the fourth game of the second set as Martinez looked to level things out after losing the opening set, racing away to a 5-3 lead.
Martinez saved three break-points in the following game but frittered away a set-point as Bublik overcame his opponent’s serve and then made his way through to the next stage with a win in the tie-breaker.
This was only Bublik’s second win at the highest level on clay this season and that’s why it sets up a potentially competitive second round encounter.
Shelton v Bublik Prediction and Tip
Nothing to choose between two out of form players but more so players who don’t relish this surface. Expecting a three-setter.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Over 8.5 games in the match: 1/4
- Moderate Risk Tip: Over 22.5 games in the match: 4/5
The 2023 ATP Rome Open will be played from May 9 to 21. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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