Ben Shelton vs Roman Safiullin Prediction: Roman has the best chance of success

In the round of 32 of the Shanghai tennis tournament, world No. 50 Roman Safiullin will meet with No. 20 Ben Shelton of the ATP ranking. The guys have met each other once on the Tour, in 2022 at the tournament in Chicago and Roman won that match in three sets, who is listed as a slight favorite in the pair.

For Ben, the upcoming meeting will be the second at the Shanghai Masters. In the last round, the American beat the Spaniard Munar in two sets quite confidently with the score of 6:4, 6:4. The match between Ben and Haume lasted an hour and 36 minutes, and Shelton served three times with three double faults, won 79% of points on the first serve and 53% on the second. It should be noted that Shelton played very well at the U.S. Open before that, became the opener at the Majors, and reached the semifinals, where he lost to future winner Novak Djokovic.

Roman already has two wins in Shanghai and has not lost a single set. In the first round, the Russian was stronger than Andy Murray of Great Britain, and in the second round, he easily beat world No. 10 Alexander Zverev. The match against the German lasted an hour and 16 minutes, and Safiullin won the meeting with the score of 6:3, 6:1. During the game, Roman served seven times with zero double faults, won 89% of points on the first serve and 53% on the second. We note Roman's excellent form, and Safiullin is on the peak again, just like at Wimbledon.

Let's agree with the bookmakers' opinion, and we also believe that Roman has the best chance of success in the upcoming game. Ben played great in New York, but usually not top tennis players have a slump after such big successes at the Majors. This was the case for Roman after Wimbledon, and it may be the case for Shelton after New York. Ben confidently beat Munar in the second round, but the Spaniard can hardly be called a strong, hard player, unlike Roman. In addition, Safiullin has experience of beating Shelton. We believe that Safiullin will continue his winning streak in Shanghai with a score of 2:0.