Ben Shelton vs John Isner, Alex De Minaur vs James Duckworth Predictions and Odds: ATP Atlanta Open
Ben Shelton vs John Isner, Alex De Minaur vs James Duckworth Predictions and Odds: ATP Atlanta Open
Two of the top three seeds at the ATP Atlanta Open get their tournaments underway on Thursday. Tennis expert Mike Spector takes a look at No. 2 seed John Isner’s match against Ben Shelton, as well as No. 3 seed Alex De Minaur’s match against James Duckworth.
Ben Shelton vs. John Isner Start Time and Odds
Date: July 28, 2022
Time: 8:00 pm ET
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Ben Shelton vs. John Isner Prediction
American John Isner has made a second home in Atlanta, winning this tournament on six previous occasions and searching for his record seventh title. Isner’s powerful and nearly unbreakable serve makes him a force on the hard surface and is where most of his 13,000+ aces (second-most in ATP history) come from. Isner is 28-2 in his last 30 ATP main draw matches at Atlanta and is once again a big favorite to take home this title.
Outside of Isner’s chase for a seventh Atlanta title, the biggest storyline in this match is whether or not his opponent will go on to be the next big thing in American men’s tennis. Ben Shelton is a largely unknown talent who just played in (and won) his first ATP tour-level match, beating Ramkumar Ramanathan in straight sets. Shelton has accumulated an 11-4 record, mostly against players ranked anywhere from No. 150-300, but this is his first test against not only a top-100 player but the world’s No. 25 ranked player in John Isner.
The fact that Isner is not favored by more (“just” -278 moneyline odds) suggests Shelton may be an under-the-radar talent in a tremendous buy-low spot. While Isner is a difficult player to beat on the hard surface, his return of serve game leaves something to be desired, and he has failed to cover the game spread in each of his last ten ATP main draw matches on hard court. Thus, we are happy to back Shelton’s game spread as an underdog, as it could be likely that the sets Isner wins are in tiebreaks.
Ben Shelton vs. John Isner Pick
PICK: Ben Shelton +2.5 Games (-115) (Bet $115 to win $100)
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Alex De Minaur vs. James Duckworth Start Time and Odds
Date: July 28, 2022
Time: 2:00 pm ET
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Alex De Minaur vs. James Duckworth Prediction
Australian countrymates Alex De Minaur and James Duckworth meet for the first time head-to-head in their careers. Duckworth has won just three of his nine tour-level matches this year, though two of those wins came in his last tournament in Newport in preparation for this event. Duckworth may also have made a deeper run at Wimbledon had he not unfortunately been assigned to face crowd favorite Andy Murray in the first round.
Alex De Minaur won the Atlanta Open in 2019 and is looking to build upon a successful 2022 season that saw him advance further at the Australian Open than ever before (fourth round). He also made it to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon and a semifinal appearance at Eastbourne (lost in three sets to Taylor Fritz) the tournament prior. De Minaur’s quarterfinal appearance at the US Open in 2020 speaks to how high of a level he can play at on the hard surface. There are not many more accomplished players left in the Atlanta field, as he has five ATP tour singles titles.
De Minaur is 22-15-3 against the game spread this season, and Duckworth is 1-9 in his last ten ATP main draw matches against right-handed opponents. All of this sets up for a straight-set victory for De Minaur.
Alex De Minaur vs. James Duckworth Pick
PICK: Alex De Minaur to Win 2 Sets to 0 (-160) (Bet $160 to win $100)
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