Ben Shelton vs Pavel Kotov Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 09/05/2024, 07:04  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 09/05/2024 at 08:04 in ATP Italian Open Predictions

Ben Shelton is hoping to reach the third round of the Italian Open for the first time. The 12th seed takes on unseeded Pavel Kotov for a place in round three of this outdoor clay court tournament. For the winner, there's a third round (last 32) match against either 19th seed Adrian Mannarino or unseeded Zhizhen Zhang. Shelton is a career-high 14th in the rankings and 23rd in the ATP Live Race. He is a hugely talented player on hard courts and has started to do better on clay too. This year has seen him win the US clay court championships with beaten opponents including Frances Tiafoe and Tomas Martin Etcheverry. His most recent clay court event saw him lose in the last 32 of the Madrid Masters losing in three sets to Alexander Bublik. This is only his second time in this tournament, losing in round two last year.

Pavek Kotov is 63rd in the latest ranking list. That was two places below his best ever ranking but he's up to 57th in the live list. That's because he beat Alex Michelsen in round one for the loss of two games. He now faces another young American but this is going to be much tougher. Kotov is playing in this tournament for the first time and has never won a match at Roland Garros in two visits. This year his clay court season started well with a run to the last four in Marrakech and he also reached the last 32 in Madrid. This could be close but we feel Shelton can get the win.