Giulio Zeppieri vs Ben Shelton Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Challenger Cagliari, Italy Men Singles

Prediction published on 05/05/2023, 07:26  by Kennedy Kechula | Modified on 05/05/2023 at 10:06 in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Ben Shelton and the unseeded Giulio Zeppieri meet n the quarterfinals of the Sardegna Open. The match will be played on clay and will see the winner advance to play either fourth-seed Laslo Djere or the unseeded Thansi Kokkinakis in the semifinals. This is Ben Shelton’s debut in Cagliari and he will hope it helps him turn around his clay court season after an unconvincing start. The American failed to build on his run to the last eight of the Australian Open this year. He now has a season record of nine wins and 11 defeats. Shelton has also struggled on clay and has managed only three wins out of seven. He did however start things off with a win in this ATP Challenger tournament by defeating the alternate Fabian Marozsan in straight sets. The American arrived in Cagliari after a first-round defeat in Madrid and has been able to boost his world ranking and is now up to a new career high at number 36 in the live list. 

Even though he has spent the majority of his season playing in the Challenger circuit, Giulio Zeppieri has performed way better than Shelton and already has won a title in Cherbourg and made it to the final of another (Rovereto). The Italian has won 18 of the 27 matches he has played with eight of those victories coming on clay. His form has seen him rapidly climb up the world rankings and is now placed at number 119 in the live rank after starting the season outside the top 160. As he is not seeded, Zeppieri, who is also in his debut tournament in Cagliari, started things off in the first round where he dropped his only set so far against the wildcard Andrea Vavassori. Despite Shelton being ranked almost 90 places above him in the ATP official world ranking, Zeppieri is highly favoured to progress in this match.Wi