World no. 43, and the number 14 seed, Ben Shelton of the USA, will play Juncheng Shang of China, the world number 149, in the second round of the 2023 Washington Open on Tuesday, August 1. Get the live streaming options of this Ben Shelton v Juncheng Shang match along with its preview, head-to-head, and tips here.
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Ben Shelton v Juncheng Shang Head to Head
The pair have played each other once before, and that was in Atlantia last week, Shang winning their first round match in straight sets.
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Shelton Tipped to be Future Champion
Shelton is looking to build on the form that saw him reach six Challenger finals in the US last year, all of them on hard courts, winning three of them.
And he began the year strongly, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open where he was making his debut.
However, his progress since then has not been without controversy, and he found himself under fire from Nick Kyrgios whilst appearing to benefit from a double bounce whilst playing a match at the Queen’s Club.
He would go on to lose in the second round of Wimbledon, and his return to American hard courts last week did not go as planned, as he lost to Shang.
Given a first round bye in Washington, Shelton, who is still only 20, has been tipped by some as a future American Grand Slam champion.
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Shang Part of New Wave of Chinese Players
Shang is part of the wave of Chinese male tennis players, along with Yibing Wu, and Zhizhen Zhang, that are beginning to make their mark on the men’s game.
A former junior world number one, and winner of the boys’ singles at the US Open two years ago. Shang has already won a Challenger title, and finished runner-up in another event.
And he is already starting to see results on the senior tour as well, having qualified for the French Open for the first time this year before losing in the first round.
Last week in Atlanta he came through qualifying and then beat Shelton, before suffering defeat at the hands of Kei Nishikori.
Again he was made to qualify in Washington – beating Gage Brymer of the USA and compatriot Thai Son Kwiatkowski, both in straight sets – to earn himself a first round match with Emilio Gomez of Ecuador.
Shang began the match strongly, breaking Gomez in the opening game, and another break helped him take the first set.
Gomez briefly got his nose in front in the second set with a break of his own, but Shang hit back to level straight away, and then broke again, giving him the chance to serve out.
Shelton v Shang Prediction and Tip
Although Shang won their previous match last week, Shelton will regard this as an ideal chance tor quick revenge for that defeat, and will be the favourite to progress, given the 106 place difference in their world rankings.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Shelton to win: 8/11
- Moderate Risk Tip: Under 22.5 games in the match: 11/10
The 2023 ATP Washington will be played from July 31 to August 6. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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