Indian Wells Open 2024: Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton preview, head-to-head, prediction, live streaming details

Published at :March 12, 2024 at 8:27 PM

Modified at :March 12, 2024 at 8:28 PM

(Courtesy : ATP Tour)

Jannik Sinner is on a 14-match winning run since the start of the year.

The in-form Italian Jannik Sinner will face USA’s Ben Shelton in the fourth round of Indian Wells Open 2024. It’s three months into the 2024 season and Jannik Sinner has shown no signs of slowing down. The Italian moved one step closer to a semi-final showdown with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner has made three previous appearances at Indian Wells, reaching at least the fourth round each time.

He breezed past Thanasi Kokkinakis in their second-round game 6-3, 6-0 in just 81 minutes. Sinner’s match-up against Jan-Lennard Struff followed a similar script, with the win against Struff coming in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, and with it a fourth-round spot at the ongoing BNP Paribas Open 2024.

Sinner remains undefeated this season at 14-0, having won at Melbourne and followed it up with a triumph at Rotterdam. Next up is the fourth-round match with 16th seed Ben Shelton, with the winner going to face Stefanos Tsitsipas or Jiri Lehecka.

Shelton got the better of Jakub Mensik (4-6, 6-3, 6-4), the finalist at Doha in three. He then saw off Argentine Francisco Cerundolo after a 2-hour and 43-minute three-setter with two tiebreaks to win 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(5).

Shelton arrived in Indian Wells after a quarter-final appearance against Casper Ruud at the ATP 500 event in Acapulco, Mexico, his only loss in his previous five matches. Sinner has won all his five previous encounters, going back to the ABN Amro semifinals at Rotterdam.

Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton — Preview

Jannik Sinner squares off against Ben Shelton in the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open 2024 on Tuesday. Last year, the Italian made a deep run in California, losing in the semifinals to Alcaraz. If Sinner stays on track, a rematch of the 2023 clash is a possibility.

Since turning pro in 2018, Sinner has garnered some impressive high-profile wins and broke long-standing records. In just his second year on tour, he won the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals in Turin, defeating Alex de Minaur in straight sets. He also made his Grand Slam debut the following year at Roland Garros, defeating Alexander Zverev in the fourth round to make his first major quarter-final appearance (lost to Rafael Nadal).

A series of ATP 250 and ATP 500 wins later, he finally caught the big fish, his maiden Grand Slam title – the 2024 Australian Open. In doing so, he became the first Italian male or female to win the Australian Open singles title in the Open era. He took out three top-five players in back-to-back matches during his final run in Melbourne.

Shelton has one title to his name, the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships in 2023, defeating Aslan Karatsev in the finals. He went on to make a semi-final appearance in the 2023 US Open, beating fellow Americans Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe to set up a semifinal clash with Novak Djokovic, losing to the World No. 1 straight sets.

The American is 9-10 in ATP Masters 1000 events. The best result in the series came at the ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai, reaching the quarterfinals against compatriot Sebastian Korda. Having made his Indian Wells debut last year, the 21-year-old Shelton is 2-1 at the venue compared to 9-2 for Sinner. The Italian has an ATP Masters win under his belt – the trophy at Canada last season.

Head-to-head records

Matches – 2

Jannik Sinner – 1

Ben Shelton – 1

The fourth-round match between Sinner and Shelton will be the third meeting between the duo. They share the spoils of their previous two meetings at 1-1. The third-seed Italian will be looking to notch win number 15 and continue his undefeated run. Meanwhile, Shelton, who lost to the Italian at Vienna last year, will be hoping for a change of events that may fetch him a second career title. Sinner had gone on to win the title in the Austrian capital and is one of the 12 titles the World No. 3 has won.

The first time the duo crossed paths at the 2023 ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters in the round of 16, it was Shelton for the win.

Where and how to watch the live streaming and TV broadcast of Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton, round of 16 match, at Indian Wells Open 2024 in India?

Tennis enthusiasts in India may watch all the live action from the 2024 BNP Paribas Open thanks to the Sony Network bouquet of television channels and their streaming service SonyLiv. Tennis TV is another streaming-only service available to watch the event at their leisure.

The fourth-round game between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton is slated to begin at 6 PM (PST) on Tuesday, March 12th. Viewers in India can tune in at 6:30 AM (IST) on Wednesday, March 13th.

Prediction

While Jannik Sinner dominated the proceedings so far at Indian Wells, Ben Shelton had to fight hard for his wins, with both his games going the distance. Sinner has lost just 10 games en route to his fourth-round showdown with Ben Shelton. Shelton’s match against Cerundolo, in particular, took a lot out of Shelton, needing as it did two hard-fought tiebreaks in the first and third sets to conclude in his favour.

There is not much to tell the two players apart in the numbers game when they have the serve. Sinner has won 74% of points on his first serve and 54% on his second. For Shelton, the numbers are 76% on the first serve and 52% on the second. While returning serve, Shelton falls short, winning only 26% of first serve return points, while for Sinner, it is 32%. This translates into 27% of return games won by the Italian while only 16% for the American.

Should Shelton let slip the first set, a comeback is less likely as he lost four matches this season from a similar position. Sinner commands a better statistic after winning the first set. He has taken eleven of his matches in the 2024 season from that position.

Result: Jannik Sinner to win in straight sets.

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