Tennis BETTING PREVIEW - Alexander Zverev vs Ben Shelton

Tennis

2026-09-13 - Alexander Zverev vs Ben Shelton

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

#1 Alexander Zverev (GER) vs #8 Ben Shelton (USA)
United States : US Open Tennis Final
Sunday 13th September 2026 - Scheduled 2pm EST
7pm (British Time)

---

Preview

The top Seed in the draw is looking for a second Grand Slam title in 2026 and he will also be looking to close out home hopes of seeing a first American male player win a Major since Andy Roddick did it right here at the US Open in 2003.

The Big Three had dominated the Grand Slams in that time, but American tennis has missed having a top player competing with those players since Andy Roddick retired and so there is plenty of pressure on Ben Shelton to end that long wait.

He is playing well enough to believe he can win the title here on Sunday, but Ben Shelton is going to be tested by the occasion and also has a really poor record against Alexander Zverev.

Losing all five Tour matches against this opponent is one thing, but losing as convincingly as he has and as often as he has makes this even tougher for Ben Shelton.

So not only is he trying to snap a long barren run for American tennis in the men's tournament, but Ben Shelton has to show how much he has developed since the losses have piled up against Alexander Zverev. None of those defeats have been this year, which will at least give Shelton the belief that he has grown so far to close the gap, but four of the defeats were in matches played in 2025 and the last two were on the hard courts.

Ben Shelton has improved on his returning part of his tennis, and that is going to be tested on Sunday.

In the five previous matches against Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton has broken serve in less than 2% of return games played and that number becomes 3% when only factoring in the three previous hard court matches.

Not only has he only broken the Zverev serve once, but Ben Shelton has only forced a single Break Point in the last four matches and the top Seed has been moving through the Rounds thanks to the pressure exerted by the serve.

This could be key again in this US Open Final, especially as Alexander Zverev has found a way to get into return games against Ben Shelton and the French Open Champion looks the most likely winner in this match.

Alexander Zverev's overall performance in the Semi Final win over Karen Khachanov was not the most convincing, but he will feel relatively comfortable in the match up and it is all about managing the nerves.

If he can do that, Alexander Zverev can win another Grand Slam title, although a win for Ben Shelton may be great news for the sport as a whole.

Prediction

Look for the top Seed to use his Grand Slam experience to end home hopes of a first Men's Grand Slam Champion in twenty-three years.

The Pick :

Alexander Zverev 3-1 Ben Shelton

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Alexander Zverev - 1.5 Games at 1.86 with Cloudbet