Ben Shelton vs Jeffrey John Wolf Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 21/01/2023, 11:19  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/01/2023 at 12:19 in Tennis Predictions

Four Americans have made it through to the last 16 of the Australian Open. Two of them are in this match as JJ Wolf takes on Ben Shelton and both are unseeded. The winner of this match will have a quarter final against either 22nd seeded Alex de Minaur or the fourth seeded Novak Djokovic. Wolf is playing in the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time having twice losing in the qualifiers. His other two Grand Slam main round appearances saw him get to the third round of the US Open in 2020 and 2022. The 24-year-old was ranked outside the world's top 200 in February of last year. He had a successful 2022 including getting to the final of a tournament in Florence. At the start of this tournament he was ranked 67th but is up to 45th in the live rankings as he has no points to defend. Beating Shelton will see him rise to 37th. He only played one warm-up tournament, getting to the last 16 and beating Adrian Mannarino who was the world number 43 that week. So far in his debut Australian Open, Wolf has beaten Jordan Thompson (in four sets), 23rd seed Diego Schwartzman and then lucky loser Michael Mmoh, the latter two in straight sets.

Before this tournament, world number 89 Ben Shelton had never won a match in the main round of a Grand Slam. His only previous appearance had been in last year's US Open where he lost in the first round to Nuno Borges in five sets.  He's also been massive strides up the rankings having been as low as 570th 11 months ago. Shelton reached six Challenger Tour finals last year, losing the first three and then winning each of the others. Getting to this fourth round has seen him rise to 65th and can zoom up to 42nd if winning this match. The 20-year-old played two warm-up tournaments but only won one of three matches. He did beat Sebastian Baez (ranked 41st that week) to reach the last 16 in Auckland. This week has seen Shelton defeat Zhang Zinzen (needing five sets), qualifier Nikolas Jarry (in three tight sets) and wildcard Alexei Popyrin in straight sets. He's already played four tie-breaks so a bet on one in this match is a possibility. Wolf should get the win though.