Ben Shelton vs Hugo Gaston Preview & Prediction | 2024 French Open | First Round
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This could be the match of the entire tournament between big-game showman Ben Shelton and Paris’ favoured son Hugo Gaston.
START DATE/TIME: Monday 27th May 2024, UK – not before 10:00 / US EST – not before 05:00 / US PST – not before 02:00
VENUE: Roland Garros Stadium, Paris, France
SURFACE: Outdoor clay
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Eurosport / US – NBC, Peacock and Tennis Channel
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ / US – NBC, Peacock and Tennis Channel
TICKETS: Visit this link for the latest Ben Shelton vs Hugo Gaston ticket information
BEN SHELTON VS HUGO GASTON PREDICTION
This should be appointment viewing for any tennis fan as two charismatic left-handers meet for the first time for what should be a madcap match.
World number 15 Ben Shelton reached the semi-finals of the US Open last summer to prove himself a big-game player with a hugely promising future but, despite winning the clay-court Houston Open last month, he is still very raw in these conditions.
Shelton’s big serve will juxtapose wonderfully with 5’8” cult French hero Hugo Gaston’s thrilling trickery to make this clash the main draw for home fans in Paris, where the current world number 104 often finds himself super-charged into a world beater. 23-year-old Gaston famously took Dominic Thiem to five sets before defeat here back in 2020 and he stunned Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters in late 2021, empowered by a raucous partisan crowd, to reach the quarter-finals there.
Gaston lost to fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in three sets at the Lyon Open this week but he will be back to his best back in a partisan atmosphere, with an upset over fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo last Wednesday proof of what he can do in these conditions. Paper, form, results and eyes would all favour Ben Shelton in this first encounter but Paris is Gaston’s superpower.
Back the diminutive Frenchman to earn at least two sets to leave the victor up to chance. Obviously, however, leave this match out of any promising accumulators.
BEN SHELTON VS HUGO GASTON TIP: HUGO GASTON TO WIN TWO SETS
