Alex Rybakov and Ben Shelton will fight against each other in the 2nd round of the Rome Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Thursday at 1:30 pm on COURT 4. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Ben Shelton who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Ben Shelton is the pick to win this match.
Ben Shelton -> 1.5
Alex Rybakov -> 2.59
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Prediction and head to head Alex Rybakov vs. Ben Shelton
There is no head to head record between Alex Rybakov and Ben Shelton since this will be the first time that they will clash against each other in the main tour.
Alex Rybakov
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 47-26 | 24-13 | 8-6 | 15-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 29-20 | 11-8 | 12-8 | 6-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 22-25 | 5-8 | 7-9 | 10-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 30-23 | 5-7 | 20-12 | 5-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 39-26 | 4-4 | 35-22 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 309 (career-high), the American reached the 2nd round after beating Enzo Couacaud 6-3 6-5 ret..
In the 1st round, Alex had a good straight sets win against Couacaud (6-3 6-5 ret.). During the match, Rybakov scored 68 points vs Couacaud’s 58. Rybakov was exceptionally aggressive to blast 30 winners.
Regarding the service games, Rybakov scored 3 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Alex Rybakov lost the serve once. Furthermore, Rybakov put 61% of his first serves in, winning 81% (30/37) of the points behind his 1st serve and 50% (12/24) on the 2nd serve. The American broke Couacaud 3 times after converting 50% of his break points (3/6).
Rybakov has a solid record in the last 9 years having won 61% of his matches (156-99). 3-2 on indoor hard courts in 2022. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this event, Rybakov has an aggregate13-8 win-loss record in the last 9 years on indoor hard courts.
Rybakov has a compiled 25-18 win-loss record in 2022, 3-2 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Rome Challenger
The American has never competed in this tournament before.
Ben Shelton
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40-24 | 23-9 | 7-5 | 4-6 | 6-4 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 42-26 | 22-13 | 8-4 | 8-5 | 4-4 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 28-26 | 21-13 | 4-8 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 40-11 | 16-9 | 0-0 | 24-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 18-7 | 7-3 | 5-2 | 6-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 433 (career-high), the American got to the 2nd round after defeating Toshihide Matsui 6-0 6-2, Liam Draxl 6-4 6-1 and Govind Nanda 4-6 6-2 6-3.
In the 1st round against Nanda, Shelton recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (4-6 6-2 6-3). During the match Shelton scored 93 points vs Nanda’s 81. Shelton was extremely aggressive to blast 38 winners.
About the serving games, Shelton bagged 2 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Ben Shelton lost the serve once and he saved 10 break points. Furthermore, Shelton put 59% of his first serves in, winning 68% (38/56) of the points behind his 1st serve and 67% (26/39) on the 2nd serve. Ben broke Nanda 3 times after converting 60% of his break points (3/5).
The American’s best result of the season was getting to the semifinal in the Little Rock Challenger.
The American has an overall 6-2 win-loss record in 2022, 3-0 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Rybakov | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 3 | 7 |
| Tot Games | 20 | 58 |
| Pts | 68-58 | 208-140 |
| Total Points | 126 | 348 |
| Winners | 30 | 76 |
| %Winners | 44% | 37% |
Rybakov played 1 match while Shelton competed in 3 matches. Shelton started his run from the qualifications while Rybakov had a direct access to the main draw. At the moment, Ben Shelton conceded 1 set while Alex Rybakov hasn’t lost a set so far. Rybakov has played 4 set(s) less than Shelton (3 vs 7). Therefore, Rybakov played 38 games less than Shelton. The American scored 30 winners (44% of the total points). On the other side, Shelton bagged 76 winners (37%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Rybakov | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 3 | 16 |
| Avg per match | 3 | 5.3 |
| 1st in | 37/61 | 100/172 |
| %1st in | 61% | 58% |
| 1st pts | 30/37 | 76/100 |
| %1st pts | 81% | 76% |
| 2nd pts | 12/24 | 53/72 |
| %2nd pts | 50% | 74% |
Rybakov made 3 aces . Shelton bagged 16 aces (5.3 per match). Rybakov won 81% points behind his first serve. He pretty effective on his second serve to win 50% of the points. On the other side, Shelton won 76% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 74% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Rybakov | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 3 | 11 |
| Converted | 3/6 | 11/22 |
| % Converted | 50% | 50% |
| Conceded | 1 | 14 |
| Saved | 0 | 13 |
| % Saved | 0% | 93% |
| Times Broken | 1 | 1 |
Rybakov broke his opponent 3 times with a 50% conversion rate. Alex conceded his serve once and he saved 0% of the break points that he conceded. Ben broke his opponents 11 times with a 50% conversion rate. Shelton conceded his serve once and he saved 93% of the break points that he conceded.
| Rybakov | |||
| R1 Couacaud |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-5 ret. | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 20 | 20 | |
| pts | 68-58 | 68-58 | |
| Total points | 126 | 126 | |
| Winners | 30 | 30 | |
| %Winners | 44% | 44% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 3 | 3 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 4 | |
| 1st in | 37/61 | 37/61 | |
| % 1st in | 61% | 61% | |
| 1st pts | 30/37 | 30/37 | |
| % 1st pts | 81% | 81% | |
| 2nd pts | 12/24 | 12/24 | |
| % 2nd pts | 50% | 50% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 3 | 3 | |
| Converted | 3/6 | 3/6 | |
| Converted % | 50% | 50% | |
| Conceded | 1 | 1 | |
| Saved | 0/1 | 0 | |
| Saved % | 0% | 0% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 1 | |
| Shelton | |||||
| Q1 Matsui |
Q3 Draxl |
R1 Nanda |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-0 6-2 | 6-4 6-1 | 4-6 6-2 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 14 | 17 | 27 | 58 | |
| pts | 53-20 | 62-39 | 93-81 | 208-140 | |
| Total points | 73 | 101 | 174 | 348 | |
| Winners | 14 | 24 | 38 | 76 | |
| %Winners | 26% | 39% | 41% | 37% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 8 | 6 | 2 | 16 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1st in | 14/31 | 30/46 | 56/95 | 100/172 | |
| % 1st in | 45% | 65% | 59% | 58% | |
| 1st pts | 14/14 | 24/30 | 38/56 | 76/100 | |
| % 1st pts | 100% | 80% | 68% | 76% | |
| 2nd pts | 14/17 | 13/16 | 26/39 | 53/72 | |
| % 2nd pts | 82% | 81% | 67% | 74% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |
| Converted | 5/8 | 3/9 | 3/5 | 11/22 | |
| Converted % | 63% | 33% | 60% | 50% | |
| Conceded | 0 | 3 | 11 | 14 | |
| Saved | 0/0 | 3/3 | 10/11 | 13 | |
| Saved % | – | 100% | 91% | 191% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Head 2 Head
LLLLLWWWWL
LLLLWWLWLL Tennis Scores in Rome Challenger
- Bjorn FratangeloFratangelo – Hady HabibHabib (6-3 5-7 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Juan Pablo FicovichPablo Ficovich – Roberto QuirozQuiroz (w/o) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Yibing WuWu – Ulises BlanchBlanch (6-3 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Jeff WolfWolf – Shintaro MochizukiMochizuki (6-3 7-61) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Yasutaka UchiyamaUchiyama – Yu Hsiou HsuHsiou Hsu (7-64 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Bjorn FratangeloFratangelo – Juan Pablo FicovichPablo Ficovich (1-0) – H2H and prediction
- Yoshihito NishiokaNishioka – Alexis GalarneauGalarneau (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Strong KirchheimerKirchheimer – Aleksandar KovacevicKovacevic (2-2) – H2H and prediction
- Yibing WuWu – Jeff WolfWolf (0-0) – H2H and prediction
