Fifth-seeded Ben Shelton will look to begin his campaign at the 2025 Paris Masters with a second-round clash against Flavio Cobolli. Shelton has taken significant strides in 2025, winning the Masters 1000 title in Toronto, his maiden title at that level. He also reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Being seeded fifth, he got a first-round bye at the Paris Masters.
Meanwhile, his opponent, Cobolli, has had success on the clay this season, winning two titles in Bucharest and Hamburg. However, the Italian player has struggled to deliver consistent results on the hard courts, with a fourth-round appearance at Toronto being his best result on the surface. At the Paris Masters, he began with a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win over Tomas Machac in the first round.
Ben Shelton vs Flavio Cobolli Match Details
Date: October 28, 2025
Tournament: Paris Masters 2025
Round: Second Round (Round of 32)
Venue: Paris La Défense Arena, Paris, France
Category: Masters 1000
Surface: Indoor Hard Court
Live Telecast: Tennis Channel, TSN, Sky Sports
Shelton vs Cobolli Head-to-Head
After four meetings, the head-to-head between Shelton and Cobolli is tied at 2-2. The Italian won the first two encounters in 2024 at Geneva and Washington. However, the American player won both matches against Cobolli this year, first in Acapulco and then 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1) at the Canadian Open.
Shelton vs Cobolli Prediction
Shelton has reached one indoor hard-court final in his career, losing to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the Swiss Indoors final last year. This year, the American player has played two indoor hard-court events, with second-round exits at both Dallas and Basel, losing to Jaume Munar in both.
Cobolli has yet to reach a final on indoor hard courts in his career, but the Italian player has reached a hard-court final, winning Washington last year, where he lost to Sebastian Korda. Coming into the Paris Masters, he won one match at the Almaty Open and had a second-round exit at Vienna, losing to Jannik Sinner 2-6, 6-7 (4). Earlier in the year, he had opening-round exits in Montpellier and Rotterdam.
This is Shelton’s third appearance at the Paris Masters, with his best result being a second-round loss last year to Arthur Cazaux. Meanwhile, this is Cobolli’s first time at this event, and he made a confident start with a win over Machac in the first round.
Indoor hard court conditions should give Shelton the advantage due to the American’s big serve, but it is a new court and arena this time around at the Paris Masters. The new conditions are slightly slower, which will allow someone like Cobolli to get into the match. However, given Shelton’s overall hard-court form, the American should be able to get through and reach the next round.
Pick: Shelton to win in three sets