Mallorca R2 previews and predictions: Shelton vs. Tien, Bautista Agut vs. Tomic

Shockingly, Bernard Tomic is back on the scene and will battle for a quarterfinal spot in Mallorca when he meets Roberto Bautista Agut on Wednesday. Second-round action also wraps up with Ben Shelton facing Learner Tien.

(1) Ben Shelton vs. Learner Tien

It will be a showdown between American lefties when Shelton and Tien go head-to-head for the first time in their careers in the Mallorca Championships second round on Wednesday. This is already each man’s third appearance on the summer grass-court swing. Shelton beat eventual Queen’s Club runner-up Jiri Lehecka in Stuttgart before losing to Alexander Zverev in a pair of tiebreakers in the semis, but he exited Queen’s Club right away at the hands of Arthur Rinderknech. Tien took losses to Brandon Nakashima in the Stuttgart second round and to Nicolas Jarry in Halle qualifying, both in straight sets.

Neither player has much grass-court experience, although Shelton has a lot more of it than his younger compatriot. Tien’s four grass matches in 2025 are the first four of his career, including a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Justin Engel on Tuesday. Shelton’s 8-9 overall record includes an encouraging fourth-round performance at Wimbledon last season. The world No. 10 is certainly the more experienced of these two guys and also the much bigger server, so he should have a considerable edge in this matchup.

Pick: Shelton in 2

(Q) Bernard Tomic vs. (7) Roberto Bautista Agut

Bernard Tomic is back! Well, he’ll have to do more than beat Rinky Hijikata to suggest that he is anywhere close to the level of his much younger days, but the 32-year-old Australian at least won an ATP level-match for the first time since the 2021 Aussie Open when he got the best of his countryman 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 on Tuesday afternoon. Tomic had not even played on the main tour since that Australian Open four years ago, and he finds himself down at No. 248 in the rankings.

Up next for the qualifier on Wednesday is a fourth meeting with Bautista Agut. Tomic crushed the Spaniard 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in their only previous grass-court contest at Wimbledon, but that was back in 2016 and Bautista Agut now leads the head-to-head series 2-1. A former semifinalist at the All-England Club (2019), the 37-year-old has once again displayed his grass-court prowess this season with a semifinal showing at Queen’s Club and a three-set victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Tuesday. Bautista Agut is in outstanding form on this surface and will likely be way too solid for Tomic.

Pick: Bautista Agut in 2