Tennis BETTING PREVIEW - Ben Shelton vs Hubert Hurkacz

Tennis

2026-09-02 - Ben Shelton vs Hubert Hurkacz

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Ben Shelton vs Hubert Hurkacz
United States : US Open Tennis Second Round
Wednesday 2nd September 2026 - Scheduled 1pm EST
6pm (British Time)

---

Preview

Both of these players have moved through the First Round of the US Open after dropping a single set and both have won a title in the build up to the final Grand Slam of the 2026 season.

However, it cannot be ignored that World Number 8 Ben Shelton won his in Montreal at the Canadian Masters, while Hubert Hurkacz won a Challenger event in Cancun.

Hubert Hurkacz will always feel he gives himself a chance to win matches with his booming serve and that is going to have to be important for him in his bid to earn the upset. Despite that serve, Hurkacz has not really been able to have the kind of consistent impact at Grand Slam events that a career high World Number 6 mark suggests he should have.

The Pole has reached the Semi Final at Wimbledon and Quarter Final at the Australian Open, but the Second Round is as good as it has gotten in New York City and Hubert Hurkacz may need an 'off day' from Ben Shelton to win this match.

Ben Shelton has won a couple of hard court titles and reached the Quarter Final in Melbourne earlier this year, while he has found a bit more consistency on his return. The American is always going to have a very dangerous serve, but he has broken in 17% of return games on the hard courts in each of the last two seasons and Ben Shelton has won a few more points on the return compared with 2025.

Putting that together continues to keep Ben Shelton as one of the leading contenders whenever he enters a hard court tournament, even if he has room for improvement to bridge the gap to the absolute elite on the Tour. His performance in the First Round against a dangerous server will give Ben Shelton the belief to take into this tough Second Round match and the fans are likely going to be very loud behind the home player.

All of this looks to be leading to a Ben Shelton win in three or four sets in what should be a serve dominated contest.

Prediction

Look for the higher Ranked player to come through and cover the set handicap for this Second Round match.

The Pick :

Ben Shelton 3-0 Hubert Hurkacz

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Ben Shelton - 1.5 Sets at 1.82 with Cloudbet