James Duckworth vs Ben Shelton Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Stuttgart Open

Prediction published on 12/06/2024, 06:59  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/06/2024 at 06:02 in Tennis Predictions

Ben Shelton is the second seed for the BOSS Open in Stuttgart. He may only be second in the seedings but is the highest seed playing in this grass court event after the withdrawal of Alexander Zverev. Shelton received a bye into round two and begins his campaign with a match against qualifier James Duckworth. The latest ranking list has Shelton in 14th place which is a career-high for the American. In the Live ATP Race he's only 23rd after failing to make much of an impact during the European clay court season. That was disappointing as he had earlier won the US clay court championship title. On grass, the 21-year-old reached the second round on his first appearance at Wimbledon last year. 

James Duckworth is down at 101st in the latest rankings but is back in the top 100 after reaching the second round of this tournament. He's up to 92nd but that's still way below his career-high of 46th achieved two years ago. The Australian had to qualify to get into the Stuttgart main draw and didn't have an easy time doing so. His first match against Khumoyen Sultanov was won in straight sets but both went to a tie-break. His final qualifier saw Duckworth have to go to a final set to get past Rudolf Molleker. That took him into round one where he beat fellow qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets with one tie-break played. He reached the third round at Wimbledon three years ago but lost in the qualifiers last year. We tip Ben Shelton to win this match.