by Sports Mole previews Friday’s Swiss Indoors quarterfinal between Andrey Rublev and Ben Shelton, including predictions, head-to-head and their tournament history so far.
Ben Shelton takes over Swiss Indoors Top seeds Andrey Rublev In the quarter-finals on Friday he wanted to record a success in his 13th round of 16 game ATP Tour.
The Russian had a relaxing week in Basel as he aims to reach the ATP Finals in Turin next month, and he takes part in the 13th quarterfinal of 2024 against Shelton in the hope of extending his American opponent’s losing record against top 10 opposition .
Game preview
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Rublev needed a deep run in Switzerland to boost his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin and the Russian player put in a commendable performance in his first appearance in Basel.
The 16-time tour-level champion, currently seventh in live racing, lost to the quarterfinals for the 13th time this season, a career high since turning pro in 2014 Nuno Borges And Alejandro Tabilo without dropping a sentence.
While he struggled to land first serves against the Portuguese, hitting 55% of those balls, an improvement to 71% in defeating Tabilo in the second round helped the Russian defeat the left-handed Chilean.
With Casper Ruud – Seventh in the live race – elimination in lap one Roberto Bautista Agut, Grigor Dimitrov (10.) and Tommy Paul (11th) have all been eliminated early in Basel or at the simultaneous ATP 500 event in Vienna, Rublev’s chances of a fifth consecutive appearance at the ATP Finals this week have increased.
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Those prospects could be boosted further by victory over Shelton, whose powerful serves and hard hitting could halt the 27-year-old’s pursuit of a third title in 2024.
The American player prevailed over the veteran Stanislas Wawrinka Thursday’s match featured an incredible 20 forehand victories from the younger opponent, who held his nerve on the big points and eliminated the three-time Grand Slam champion 7-6(2), 7-5.
The fact that Shelton parried all five break points constructed by the 39-year-old was undoubtedly an advantage for reaching the last eight in Basel in his first appearance, his 13th overall on the ATP Tour.
While the sixth-placed team hopes to reach the final four where Stefanos Tsitsipas or double partner Arthur Fils expected, his 4-12 record against top 10 opponents underlines the challenge ahead of world number 23 against Rublev.
tournament so far
Andrey Rublev:
First round: against Nuno Borges 6-3 6-2
Second round: against Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(3), 6-1
Ben Shelton:
First round: vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3 6-4
Second round: against Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(2), 7-5
Head to head
In addition to the excitement of Friday’s quarterfinals in Switzerland, both players will face each other for the first time on the ATP Tour.
The quarter-finals in Switzerland will be the first meeting between both players, increasing the excitement ahead of Friday.
Shelton enters the last eight with a 39-23 record in 2024, slightly below Rublev’s 40-21, underscoring the expected tightness of the competition.
However, the American will need to raise his level to beat a top 10 player, having lost five out of six games against such opponents in 2024, albeit two each against him Jannik Sinner And Carlos Alcaraz and another against it Alexander Zverev – the Tour’s leading players with the most wins this year.
We say: Shelton wins in three sets
Shelton’s only top 10 triumph this season came against Daniil Medvedev at the Laver Cup, and the hard-hitting American will hope to catch Rublev on a bad day to claim his first win over a top-ranked player at an ATP event since triumphing over Sinner in Shanghai last year.
