Ben Shelton will be playing an ATP-level match on clay for the first time in his career when he goes up against Constant Lestienne in round one of the Estoril Open on Tuesday.
Shelton has been one of the tour’s breakout stars of the last six months, but he has understandably hit a bit of a rough patch since making a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals. A move from hard courts to clay obviously won’t help matters, as the American has little to no experience on the latter. Lestienne hasn’t been great on clay in recent years, but he has won 161 professional matches on the surface over the course of his career. No matter that almost all of them have come in Futures and Challengers; the Frenchman knows how to play on the slow stuff.
The surface will likely be the deciding factor in this outcome.
Pick: Lestienne in 3
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