Aleksandar Kovacevic and Ben Shelton will clash against each other in the semifinal of the Indianapolis Challenger for the 3rd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 4:30 pm on COURT 1. 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 -> 1.53
Aleksandar Kovacevic -> 2.5
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Prediction and head to head Aleksandar Kovacevic vs. Ben Shelton
This will be the 3rd time that Aleksandar Kovacevic and Ben Shelton face off. The head to head is 1-1 (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on indoor hard courts.
The last time that they played each other, Shelton won 7-6(2) 7-5 in the quarter in the Rome Challenger back in July 2022.
Aleksandar Kovacevic
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 17-13 | 14-7 | 3-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 43-27 | 34-15 | 0-5 | 7-2 | 2-5 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 41-31 | 22-18 | 4-4 | 15-9 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 20-17 | 11-10 | 2-3 | 7-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 5-5 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 269 (career-high), Aleksandar reached the semifinal after defeating Stefan Kozlov 6-3 6-74 6-4, Sho Shimabukuro 6-3 6-4 and Dominik Koepfer 7-5 7-65.
In the quarter, Aleksandar had a good straight sets win against Koepfer (7-5 7-65). During the match, Kovacevic scored 89 points vs Koepfer’s 82. The American was quite aggressive to blast 39 winners.
Talking about the service games, Kovacevic blasted 12 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Aleksandar Kovacevic lost the serve 3 times and he saved 7 break points. Furthermore, Kovacevic put 67% of his first serves in, winning 72% (39/54) of the points behind his 1st serve and 44% (12/27) on the 2nd serve. Kovacevic broke Koepfer 4 times after converting 22% of his break points (4/18).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Kovacevic has lost 1 set in this event to conquer 54% of the points he played.
Kovacevic has a winning record in the last 6 years having won 56% of his matches (91-72). 8-5 on indoor hard courts in 2022. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this competition, Kovacevic has an overall25-19 record in the last 6 years on indoor hard courts.
The American’s best result of the current season was reaching the semifinal in the Little Rock Challenger.
The American has an aggregate 23-16 win-loss record in 2022, 8-5 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Indianapolis Challenger
Aleksandar has never competed in this tournament before.
Ben Shelton
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 17-8 | 9-6 | 6-1 | 2-1 | 0-0 | 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. 323 (career-high), the American got to the semifinal after beating Rinky Hijikata 6-3 6-4, Tim Van Rijthoven 6-77 1-2 ret. and Max Purcell 7-65 6-4.
In the quarter, Shelton had a good straight sets win against Purcell (7-65 6-4). During the match Shelton scored 72 points vs Purcell’s 67. Shelton was pretty aggressive to blast 33 winners.
Talking about serving, Shelton made 8 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Overall, Ben Shelton was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 83% (33/40) of his 1st serve and 55% (17/31) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. The American broke Purcell twice after converting 67% of his break points (2/3).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Shelton hasn’t dropped yet a set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.
Shelton’s best result of the season was getting to the final in the Rome Challenger.
Ben has a composed 12-3 win-loss record in 2022, 9-1 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Kovacevic | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 7 | 7 |
| Tot Games | 76 | 58 |
| Pts | 246-209 | 182-175 |
| Total Points | 455 | 357 |
| Winners | 116 | 89 |
| %Winners | 47% | 49% |
Both Kovacevic and Shelton played 3 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Aleksandar Kovacevic surrendered 1 set, while Ben Shelton conceded 2 sets. Talking about their workload, Kovacevic and Shelton have played the same amount of sets 7. However, Kovacevic played 18 games more than Shelton. Kovacevic scored 116 winners (47% of the total points). On the other side, The American bagged 89 winners (49%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Kovacevic | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 29 | 27 |
| Avg per match | 9.7 | 9 |
| 1st in | 147/227 | 108/181 |
| %1st in | 65% | 60% |
| 1st pts | 116/147 | 89/108 |
| %1st pts | 79% | 82% |
| 2nd pts | 47/80 | 37/73 |
| %2nd pts | 59% | 51% |
Kovacevic managed to score 29 aces (9.7 per match). Shelton bagged 27 aces (9 per match). Kovacevic won 79% points on his first serve. He pretty solid on his second serve to win 59% of the points. On the other side, Shelton won 82% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 51% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Kovacevic | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 9 | 5 |
| Converted | 9/25 | 5/7 |
| % Converted | 36% | 71% |
| Conceded | 14 | 10 |
| Saved | 10 | 8 |
| % Saved | 71% | 80% |
| Times Broken | 4 | 2 |
Aleksandar broke his opponents 9 times with a 36% conversion rate. The American dropped his serve 4 times and he saved 71% of the break points that he conceded. The American broke his opponents 5 times with a 71% conversion rate. Ben conceded his serve twice and he saved 80% of the break points that he conceded.
| Kovacevic | |||||
| R1 Kozlov |
R2 Shimabukuro |
1/4 Koepfer |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-74 6-4 | 6-3 6-4 | 7-5 7-65 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 32 | 19 | 25 | 76 | |
| pts | 102-85 | 55-42 | 89-82 | 246-209 | |
| Total points | 187 | 97 | 171 | 455 | |
| Winners | 47 | 30 | 39 | 116 | |
| %Winners | 46% | 55% | 44% | 47% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 8 | 9 | 12 | 29 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | |
| 1st in | 59/96 | 34/50 | 54/81 | 147/227 | |
| % 1st in | 61% | 68% | 67% | 65% | |
| 1st pts | 47/59 | 30/34 | 39/54 | 116/147 | |
| % 1st pts | 80% | 88% | 72% | 79% | |
| 2nd pts | 25/37 | 10/16 | 12/27 | 47/80 | |
| % 2nd pts | 68% | 63% | 44% | 59% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | |
| Converted | 3/5 | 2/2 | 4/18 | 9/25 | |
| Converted % | 60% | 100% | 22% | 36% | |
| Conceded | 4 | 0 | 10 | 14 | |
| Saved | 3/4 | 0/0 | 7/10 | 10 | |
| Saved % | 75% | – | 70% | 48% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
| Shelton | |||||
| R1 Hijikata |
R2 Van Rijthoven |
1/4 Purcell |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-4 | 6-77 1-2 ret. | 7-65 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 16 | 23 | 58 | |
| pts | 67-53 | 43-55 | 72-67 | 182-175 | |
| Total points | 120 | 98 | 139 | 357 | |
| Winners | 32 | 24 | 33 | 89 | |
| %Winners | 48% | 56% | 46% | 49% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 11 | 8 | 8 | 27 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | |
| 1st in | 40/65 | 28/45 | 40/71 | 108/181 | |
| % 1st in | 62% | 62% | 56% | 60% | |
| 1st pts | 32/40 | 24/28 | 33/40 | 89/108 | |
| % 1st pts | 80% | 86% | 83% | 82% | |
| 2nd pts | 14/25 | 6/17 | 17/31 | 37/73 | |
| % 2nd pts | 56% | 35% | 55% | 51% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Converted | 2/2 | 1/2 | 2/3 | 5/7 | |
| Converted % | 100% | 50% | 67% | 71% | |
| Conceded | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | |
| Saved | 4/4 | 0/1 | 4/5 | 8 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 0% | 80% | 60% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Head 2 Head
LLLWWLLWLW
WLWWWWWLWL Tennis Scores in Indianapolis Challenger
- Purav Raja/Divij SharanRaja/Divij Sharan – Robert Galloway/Alex LawsonGalloway/Alex Lawson (3-6 6-3 10-8) – Stats, scores, rankings
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Aleksandar KovacevicKovacevic – (1-1) – H2H and prediction
- Yibing WuWu – Yasutaka UchiyamaUchiyama (0-0) – H2H and prediction
