Ben Shelton will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the 2023 ATP Paris tennis event this week. This will be a first-round match in the tournament, a competition that is also known as the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters. The match will be on Monday’s order of play from Paris. For those following Shelton in the USA, expect a very early start time of about 6 AM ET on Monday morning. My Shelton vs Davidovich Fokina prediction is that the former will win this match and compete well in his quarter of the draw.
Order of Play: Right-click/Open in the New Tab to check match times: subject to change
Recent Match Results for Ben Shelton
Shelton did not have a great tournament last week. He fell in the first round of the Vienna draw to Jannik Sinner, a match that had competitive sets. Sinner ended up winning the title so you could talk about bad draw luck for Shelton. Furthermore, the American was likely a little bit tired following a title run in the previous draw, ATP Tokyo. Further back, Shelton enjoyed a strong tournament in Shanghai early in October. He defeated Jannik Sinner in that draw.
Recent matches (Right click/Open link in new tab): Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Head-to-Head Series
These two players have not faced one another on tour. But Shelton is the one who enters the tournament on the radar as a potential champion in the event.
ADK has been fairly inactive recently, partly due to lost matches. He fell in the first round in Shanghai. Before that, he won just one match in Beijing. He was at the Laver Cup and the Davis Cup in international play. However, after beating Soonwoo Kwon, ADK went 0-3 in and 0-6 on sets played in his next three matches. Davidovich Fokina is out of form and not properly run in for recent matches heading into the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters.
The Draw: Right-click/Open in the New Tab for the draw for the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters
Shelton vs Davidovich Fokina Prediction: Shelton wins
Shelton is underrated in this match at -250 (bet365). His determination is high at this point in his young career and he is up against a slumping opponent.
The outrights for the quarter of the draw are below. This is a section of the draw where you find Novak Djokovic. However, the Serb does not always take these smaller events that seriously at this stage in his career. Bettors not interested in -250 for Shelton’s moneyline, can look at Shelton at +900 and hope he upsets Djokovic later in the draw to have a good chance to win the first quarter.
To Win 1st Quarter 2023 Rolex Paris Masters
Novak Djokovic -225
Taylor Fritz +750
Holger Rune +850
Ben Shelton +900
Arthur Fils +1400
Tallon Griekspoor +1800
Stan Wawrinka +2500
Miomir Kecmanovic +2500
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina +2800
Dominic Thiem +3300
Christopher Eubanks +3300
Tomas Martin Etcheverry +5000
Daniel Altmaier +5000
Sebastian Baez +6600
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