Ben Shelton and Aleksandar Kovacevic will square off in the semifinal of the Champaign Challenger for the 5th time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 1:30 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 -> 1.5
Aleksandar Kovacevic -> 2.52
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Prediction and head to head Ben Shelton vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic
This will be the 5th time that Ben Shelton and Aleksandar Kovacevic fight against each other. The head to head is 2-2 (see full H2H stats), 2-1 on indoor hard courts.
The last time that they locked horns, Shelton won 7-5 6-4 in the quarter in the Knoxville Challenger back in November 2022.
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. 108 (career-high), Ben reached the semifinal after beating Karlis Ozolins 6-3 6-4, Ethan Quinn 6-4 6-4 and Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3 7-5.
In the quarter, Shelton had a good straight sets win against Gunneswaran (6-3 7-5). During the match, Shelton scored 63 points vs Gunneswaran’s 50. Shelton was extremely aggressive to blast 29 winners.
Talking about the service games, Shelton bagged 3 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Overall, Ben Shelton was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 73% (29/40) of his 1st serve and 71% (12/17) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. The American broke Gunneswaran 3 times after converting 50% of his break points (3/6).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Ben hasn’t surrendered yet a set in this tournament to conquer 55% of the points he played.
Shelton has a fantastic record in the last 2 years having won 76% of his matches (56-18). 22-2 on indoor hard courts in 2022. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Shelton has an aggregate28-4 match record in the last 2 years on indoor hard courts.
The American’s best result of the season was reaching the final in the Rome Challenger,the Chicago Challenger,the Tiburon Challenger,the Charlottesville Challenger and the Knoxville Challenger.
Shelton has a composed 38-11 win-loss record in 2022, 22-2 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Champaign Challenger
Aleksandar Kovacevic
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34-33 | 13-14 | 4-7 | 16-8 | 1-4 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 29-35 | 20-17 | 5-8 | 2-6 | 2-4 | 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 |
Ranked no. 174, Kovacevic reached the semifinal after beating Alafia Ayeni 7-5 7-5, Ernesto Escobedo 3-6 6-4 6-2 and Steve Johnson 6-3 6-4.
In the quarter, Aleksandar had a good straight sets win against Johnson (6-3 6-4). During the match Kovacevic scored 66 points vs Johnson’s 51. Aleksandar was quite aggressive to blast 33 winners.
Talking about serving, Kovacevic managed to score 8 aces and he was very consistent in conceding no double faults for the entire match. Aleksandar Kovacevic lost the serve once and he saved 3 break points. Furthermore, Kovacevic put 66% of his first serves in, winning 83% (33/40) of the points behind his 1st serve and 48% (10/21) on the 2nd serve. The American broke Johnson 3 times after converting 60% of his break points (3/5).
Overall Performance in this tournament
The American has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.
The American’s best result of the current season was getting to the final in the Indianapolis Challenger.
Aleksandar has an overall 41-30 win-loss record in 2022, 15-8 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Champaign Challenger
Previously, his best result was reaching the 2nd round in 2019. See his history.
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Shelton | Kovacevic |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 6 | 7 |
| Tot Games | 60 | 70 |
| Pts | 198-159 | 242-208 |
| Total Points | 357 | 450 |
| Winners | 81 | 119 |
| %Winners | 41% | 49% |
Both Shelton and Kovacevic played 3 matches. At the moment, Aleksandar Kovacevic conceded 1 set while Ben Shelton hasn’t conceded a set so far. Shelton has played 1 set(s) less than Kovacevic (6 vs 7). Therefore, Shelton played 10 games less than Kovacevic. The American scored 81 winners (41% of the total points). On the other side, Aleksandar scored 119 winners (49%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Shelton | Kovacevic |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 21 | 29 |
| Avg per match | 7 | 9.7 |
| 1st in | 105/167 | 156/246 |
| %1st in | 63% | 63% |
| 1st pts | 81/105 | 119/156 |
| %1st pts | 77% | 76% |
| 2nd pts | 41/62 | 42/90 |
| %2nd pts | 66% | 47% |
Shelton bagged 21 aces (7 per match). Kovacevic made 29 aces (9.7 per match). Shelton won 77% points on his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 66% of the points. On the other side, Kovacevic won 76% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 47% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Shelton | Kovacevic |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 9 | 9 |
| Converted | 9/19 | 9/17 |
| % Converted | 47% | 53% |
| Conceded | 11 | 28 |
| Saved | 9 | 24 |
| % Saved | 82% | 86% |
| Times Broken | 2 | 4 |
The American broke his opponents 9 times with a 47% conversion rate. Ben dropped his serve twice and he saved 82% of the break points that he conceded. The American broke his opponents 9 times with a 53% conversion rate. The American conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 86% of the break points that he conceded.
| Shelton | |||||
| R1 Ozolins |
R2 Quinn |
1/4 Gunneswaran |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-4 | 6-4 6-4 | 6-3 7-5 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 20 | 21 | 60 | |
| pts | 65-49 | 70-60 | 63-50 | 198-159 | |
| Total points | 114 | 130 | 113 | 357 | |
| Winners | 25 | 27 | 29 | 81 | |
| %Winners | 38% | 39% | 46% | 41% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 10 | 8 | 3 | 21 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| 1st in | 28/44 | 37/66 | 40/57 | 105/167 | |
| % 1st in | 64% | 56% | 70% | 63% | |
| 1st pts | 25/28 | 27/37 | 29/40 | 81/105 | |
| % 1st pts | 89% | 73% | 73% | 77% | |
| 2nd pts | 9/16 | 20/29 | 12/17 | 41/62 | |
| % 2nd pts | 56% | 69% | 71% | 66% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Converted | 4/9 | 2/4 | 3/6 | 9/19 | |
| Converted % | 44% | 50% | 50% | 47% | |
| Conceded | 1 | 7 | 3 | 11 | |
| Saved | 0/1 | 7/7 | 2/3 | 9 | |
| Saved % | 0% | 100% | 67% | 56% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kovacevic | |||||
| R1 Ayeni |
R2 Escobedo |
1/4 Johnson |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 7-5 7-5 | 3-6 6-4 6-2 | 6-3 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 24 | 27 | 19 | 70 | |
| pts | 76-69 | 100-88 | 66-51 | 242-208 | |
| Total points | 145 | 188 | 117 | 450 | |
| Winners | 40 | 46 | 33 | 119 | |
| %Winners | 53% | 46% | 50% | 49% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 0 | 21 | 8 | 29 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
| 1st in | 53/81 | 63/104 | 40/61 | 156/246 | |
| % 1st in | 65% | 61% | 66% | 63% | |
| 1st pts | 40/53 | 46/63 | 33/40 | 119/156 | |
| % 1st pts | 75% | 73% | 83% | 76% | |
| 2nd pts | 13/28 | 19/41 | 10/21 | 42/90 | |
| % 2nd pts | 46% | 46% | 48% | 47% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |
| Converted | 3/5 | 3/7 | 3/5 | 9/17 | |
| Converted % | 60% | 43% | 60% | 53% | |
| Conceded | 11 | 13 | 4 | 28 | |
| Saved | 10/11 | 11/13 | 3/4 | 24 | |
| Saved % | 91% | 85% | 75% | 84% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
Head 2 Head
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LLLWLWWLWL Tennis Scores in Champaign Challenger
- Christopher EubanksEubanks – Evan ZhuZhu (6-1 6-2) – See score progression
- Aleksandar KovacevicKovacevic – Steve JohnsonJohnson (6-3 6-4) – See score progression
- Aleksandar VukicVukic – Nicolas Alvarez VaronaAlvarez Varona (7-66 6-4) – See score progression
- Ben SheltonShelton – Prajnesh GunneswaranGunneswaran (6-3 7-5) – See score progression
- N.Sriram Balaji/Jeevan NedunchezhiyanBalaji/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan – Anirudh Chandrasekar/Adam WaltonChandrasekar/Adam Walton (7-68 2-6 10-4) – See score progression
- Aleksandar VukicVukic – Nicolas Alvarez VaronaAlvarez Varona (7-6(6) 6-4) – See score progression
- Christopher EubanksEubanks – Evan ZhuZhu (6-1 6-2) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Aleksandar VukicVukic – Christopher EubanksEubanks (0-1) – H2H and prediction
