Ben Shelton vs Taro Daniel Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Japan Open

Prediction published on 16/10/2023, 11:30  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 16/10/2023 at 12:34 in Tennis Predictions

World number 19 Ben Shelton will take on 96th-ranked Taro Daniel in the first round of the ATP Tokyo Open on Tuesday. The winner of this match will move on to face Jordan Thompson in round two. These two have met once in the past, which Shelton won in the first round at Wimbledon. After a relatively underwhelming first half of the season, Shelton seems to have found his best form in the last couple of months. The American was excellent at the US Open, where he reached the semi-final. He followed that up with a quarter-final appearance earlier this month at the Shanghai Masters, and it feels like it's just a matter of time until he claims his first ATP title this year. Shelton will be looking to bring his record into positive territory at this tournament which is currently 23-24 and 16-13 on his favored hard surface. The big-serving left-hander is the favorite to win here, according to the bookmakers. 

Meanwhile, qualify Taro Daniel has found it difficult to put a run of any significance together lately. He bowed out in the first round of competition at the Shanghai Masters earlier this month and failed to make it out of the qualifiers in Astana before that. The Japanese has not made it past round two of any ATP competition since his third-round appearance at the Miami Masters back in March. Here in Tokyo, Daniel beat Jason Jung and compatriot Rio Noguchi in his two qualifiers, though he did lose the opening set in his first match. He is now 33-27 for the year and 22-13 on the hard court. Daniel put up a very strong fight against Shelton at Wimbledon, taking the match to five sets. Can he manage an upset this time around?