Ben Shelton looks to bounce back from his final defeat in Basel when he returns to the pitch Paris Masters against home players and left-handers Corentin Moutet.

The American player should compete against each other Felix Auger-Aliassime in this tournament opener, but the Canadian’s absence due to a season-ending back injury means the 22-year-old will face Moutet on Tuesday instead.

Game preview

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Although Shelton was able to triumph in Baselto which the American could not find answers Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard‘s booming serve in the ATP 500 decider, where he lost 6-4, 7-6(4) to the Frenchman.

Despite his defeat in the championship game, the 22-year-old improved to 19th place after a commendable run on his debut in Basel and is aiming for an encouraging performance at the Paris Masters.

Although his best performance at ATP 1000 events this year came in Cincinnati, Shelton enters the current competition without an opening defeat at such events this season.

That will serve him well as he looks to improve on his 11-7 record in 1,000 tournaments this season before potentially facing him Jannik Sinner in round two.

The lively American player cannot afford to look that far ahead against Moutet, who has the wherewithal to make the world number 19’s progress difficult.

The Frenchman – ranked 70th – has qualified for the main draw of his home tournament and is keen to impress his higher-ranked opponent with a one-two punch ATP Tour Champion.

However, Moutet is 11-15 on Tour and 1-5 in Masters events this season, underscoring the challenge the Frenchman faces against Shelton.

With the 25-year-old’s only win in the main draw against Roman Safiullin In Rome he goes into his home tournament with a 0:3 success at ATP 1000 events and was recently eliminated in the first round Aleksandar Vukic in Shanghai.

Although Moutet isn’t thrilled about it, strange things have happened on the tour and he’ll be hoping to take advantage of having probably the most fans in his corner against his higher-ranked opponent.

Head to head

Both players will compete against each other for the first time on the men’s singles tour, with the winner taking on Sinner.

Shelton is 5-2 against left-handed opponents this year, albeit against opponents and losses Denis Shapovalov three times and trying to score a sixth goal in Tuesday’s game.

In contrast, Moutet is 3-5 against other lefties this year, losing the last three before the Paris event.

We say: Shelton wins in straight sets

Unless he carries the disappointment of Basel into the final Masters event of 2024, Shelton’s crisp serve and hard-hitting style should overwhelm Moutet in the pair’s first Tour-level meeting.

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