Denis Kudla and Ben Shelton will square off in the semifinal of the Tiburon Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 5:00 pm on STADIUM COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis 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 -> 1.54
Denis Kudla -> 2.41
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Prediction and head to head Denis Kudla vs. Ben Shelton
There is no head to head record between Denis Kudla and Ben Shelton since this will be the first time that they will play each other in the main tour.
Denis Kudla
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 23-23 | 9-7 | 6-6 | 7-7 | 1-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 30-28 | 13-17 | 1-3 | 11-4 | 5-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 33-33 | 21-19 | 3-5 | 2-3 | 7-6 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 40-27 | 20-14 | 4-5 | 4-4 | 12-4 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 19-9 | 13-6 | 0-1 | 6-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 100, Denis got to the semifinal after beating Brandon Holt 6-4 2-1 ret., Leandro Riedi 6-2 6-3 and Enzo Couacaud 7-5 7-68.
In the quarter, The American had a good straight sets win against Couacaud (7-5 7-68). During the match, Kudla scored 85 points vs Couacaud’s 80. Denis was very aggressive to blast 39 winners.
Talking about the service games, Kudla managed to score 5 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Denis Kudla lost the serve twice and he saved 2 break points. Furthermore, Kudla put 59% of his first serves in, winning 81% (39/48) of the points behind his 1st serve and 42% (14/33) on the 2nd serve. The American broke Couacaud 3 times after converting 33% of his break points (3/9).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Kudla hasn’t conceded yet a set in this competition to conquer 57% of the points he played.
Kudla has positive win-loss record in the last 10 years having won 57% of his matches (355-268). 21-17 on hard in 2022. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Kudla has a composed 175-136 record in the last years on hard.
The American’s best result of the season was reaching the final in the Phoenix Challenger and the Surbiton Challenger.
Kudla has an aggregate 31-29 win-loss record in 2022, 21-17 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Tiburon Challenger
Ben Shelton
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10-7 | 9-5 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 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. 177, Shelton reached the semifinal after beating Roberto Quiroz 3-6 6-2 7-64, Sam Riffice 6-3 6-2 and Mitchell Krueger 6-3 6-4.
In the quarter, Shelton had a good straight sets win against Krueger (6-3 6-4). During the match Shelton scored 70 points vs Krueger’s 59. Shelton was pretty aggressive to blast 29 winners.
About the serving games, Shelton struck 7 aces and he committed only 1 double fault for the entire match. Ben Shelton was extremely efficient on serve to win 71% (29/41) of his 1st serve and 67% (14/21) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. The American broke Krueger twice after converting 25% of his break points (2/8).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Ben has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 55% of the points he played.
Ben’s best result of the season was getting to the final in the Rome Challenger and the Chicago Challenger.
The American has a compiled 22-8 win-loss record in 2022, 13-6 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Kudla | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 7 | 7 |
| Tot Games | 55 | 66 |
| Pts | 188-145 | 225-182 |
| Total Points | 333 | 407 |
| Winners | 80 | 89 |
| %Winners | 43% | 40% |
Both Kudla and Shelton played 3 matches. At the moment, Ben Shelton surrendered 1 set while Denis Kudla hasn’t lost a set so far. Talking about their workload, Kudla and Shelton have played the same amount of sets 7. However, Kudla played 11 games less than Shelton. Denis scored 80 winners (43% of the total points). On the other side, Shelton recorded 89 winners (40%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Kudla | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 13 | 14 |
| Avg per match | 4.3 | 4.7 |
| 1st in | 93/161 | 122/198 |
| %1st in | 58% | 62% |
| 1st pts | 80/93 | 89/122 |
| %1st pts | 86% | 73% |
| 2nd pts | 36/68 | 48/76 |
| %2nd pts | 53% | 63% |
Kudla scored 13 aces (4.3 per match). Shelton recorded 14 aces (4.7 per match). Kudla won 86% points on his first serve. He pretty solid on his second serve to win 53% of the points. On the other side, Shelton won 73% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 63% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Kudla | Shelton |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 8 | 9 |
| Converted | 8/19 | 9/30 |
| % Converted | 42% | 30% |
| Conceded | 6 | 10 |
| Saved | 4 | 6 |
| % Saved | 67% | 60% |
| Times Broken | 2 | 4 |
Kudla broke his opponents 8 times with a 42% conversion rate. Denis lost his serve twice and he saved 67% of the break points that he conceded. Ben broke his opponents 9 times with a 30% conversion rate. Ben conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 60% of the break points that he conceded.
| Kudla | |||||
| R1 Holt |
R2 Riedi |
1/4 Couacaud |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-4 2-1 ret. | 6-2 6-3 | 7-5 7-68 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Tot Games | 13 | 17 | 25 | 55 | |
| pts | 45-35 | 58-30 | 85-80 | 188-145 | |
| Total points | 80 | 88 | 165 | 333 | |
| Winners | 19 | 22 | 39 | 80 | |
| %Winners | 42% | 38% | 46% | 43% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 1st in | 22/35 | 23/45 | 48/81 | 93/161 | |
| % 1st in | 63% | 51% | 59% | 58% | |
| 1st pts | 19/22 | 22/23 | 39/48 | 80/93 | |
| % 1st pts | 86% | 96% | 81% | 86% | |
| 2nd pts | 7/13 | 15/22 | 14/33 | 36/68 | |
| % 2nd pts | 54% | 68% | 42% | 53% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | |
| Converted | 2/6 | 3/4 | 3/9 | 8/19 | |
| Converted % | 33% | 75% | 33% | 42% | |
| Conceded | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | |
| Saved | 2/2 | 0/0 | 2/4 | 4 | |
| Saved % | 100% | – | 50% | 50% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Shelton | |||||
| R1 Quiroz |
R2 Riffice |
1/4 Krueger |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 3-6 6-2 7-64 | 6-3 6-2 | 6-3 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 30 | 17 | 19 | 66 | |
| pts | 92-82 | 63-41 | 70-59 | 225-182 | |
| Total points | 174 | 104 | 129 | 407 | |
| Winners | 42 | 18 | 29 | 89 | |
| %Winners | 46% | 29% | 41% | 40% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 1st in | 55/87 | 26/49 | 41/62 | 122/198 | |
| % 1st in | 63% | 53% | 66% | 62% | |
| 1st pts | 42/55 | 18/26 | 29/41 | 89/122 | |
| % 1st pts | 76% | 69% | 71% | 73% | |
| 2nd pts | 18/32 | 16/23 | 14/21 | 48/76 | |
| % 2nd pts | 56% | 70% | 67% | 63% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | |
| Converted | 3/8 | 4/14 | 2/8 | 9/30 | |
| Converted % | 38% | 29% | 25% | 30% | |
| Conceded | 7 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Saved | 4/7 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 6 | |
| Saved % | 57% | 0% | 100% | 52% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
Head 2 Head
LLLWWWLWLW Tennis Scores in Tiburon Challenger
- Zachary SvajdaSvajda – Ernesto EscobedoEscobedo (6-3 7-63) – See score progression
- Denis KudlaKudla – Enzo CouacaudCouacaud (7-5 7-68) – See score progression
- Ben SheltonShelton – Mitchell KruegerKrueger (6-3 6-4) – See score progression
- Alexis GalarneauGalarneau – Paul JubbJubb (6-3 6-73 6-4) – See score progression
- Charles Broom/Constantin FrantzenBroom/Constantin Frantzen – Andrew Harris/Luke SavilleHarris/Luke Saville (6-3 6-78 10-7) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Denis KudlaKudla – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
