World number one Jannik Sinner will be up against the 20th-ranked Ben Shelton in the semifinal of the 2025 Australian Open which will be played on Friday, January 24. Get all the Jannik Sinner v Ben Shelton predictions, betting tips and odds for this encounter in the section below.
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Jannik Sinner v Ben Shelton Head to Head
There have been five previous meetings between these two players and Sinner leads Shelton 4-1.
Shelton had beaten Sinner in their first ever match played in 2023 in Shanghai before Sinner came back to win in Vienna that very year and in Indian Wells, at Wimbledon and Shanghai last year.
Other than that first defeat, Sinner hasn’t dropped a set again to Shelton.
Sinner Shrugs off Illness, de Minaur
There were question-marks over Jannik Sinner’s fitness after his fourth round victory over Holger Rune but he shrugged off any such issues to register a thumping win over Alex de Minaur.
Having entered the match with nine successive wins over de Minaur, Sinner won yet again with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in match that lasted less than an hour and a half.
Having been stretched to four sets by Rune and Tristan Schoolkate in his previous encounters here, Sinner looked to be in the zone from the get-go in his quarterfinal.
And he used that to break his Aussie opponent in the fourth game of the first set and the opening games of each of the next two to snatch any chances of an upset result. Making it worse for de Minaur, he got just one breaking opportunity in the entire match and conceded that easily.
In his post match interview, Sinner noted that he might find it tougher against Shelton given his opponent’s left-handed serve but his head to head record seems to suggest he has that base covered.
Shelton Battles Past Sonego
Ben Shelton needed a battling four sets to get past Lorenzo Sonego and he would be quite relieved to make it to the semifinal for only the second time in his Grand Slam career.
In a match that went on nearly four hours, Shelton overcame his Italian opponent 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4) to surpass his career-best effort at Melbourne Park – his previous best was a quarterfinal appearance at he 2023 edition.
Having been stretched to the fourth set in all but one of the matches he’s played this time, Shelton was broken twice in the match – once apiece in the second and third set – but came back to win the fourth set in a tie-breaker.
Later, Shelton would go on to say it was a relief to win the match and book his spot in the semifinal following the same showing at the 2023 US Open as well.
Things will get rather more difficult now that he takes on the defending champion but the one thing one can expect from him is to put up a solid fight.
Sinner v Shelton Prediction
While we can expect Shelton to have the advantage that none of Sinner’s previous opponents did – of him being a lefty – we think the Italian will enter the match with a chance to quell the American’s challenge in straight sets. One of the sets could go longer than usual but we still expect Sinner to come through with some ease.
Sinner v Shelton Tips
- Sinner to win in straight sets: 7/5
- Over 32.5 games in the match: 4/6
