 Tommy Paul vs Ben Shelton is the third quarter final for the men's Australian Open for 2023. And both guys had to battle to get to this stage. Shelton started the tournament off, unseeded and would take on Song in the first round. And after splitting the first four sets, this one went down to the wire with Shelton winning in 5, 4, 6, 6, 3, 6, 2, 2, 6, 7, 6. In the second round he'd take on the qualified Jarry who had just beaten Ketch Menovic. This was no problem with Shelton getting through in traits 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, 5. In the third round he'd take on the wild card Poprin who had just beaten Taylor Fritz number 8 seed in 5 long sets. And again Shelton looked strong winning in straight sets 6, 3, 7, 6, 6, 4. In the fourth round he'd take on countryman JJ Woof who had a very impressive run to get to this stage. And again after splitting the first four sets this match went down to the wire with Shelton coming back from two sets to one down 6, 7, 6, 2, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 2 to get to his first quarter final. Paul started the tournament off unseated and would take on the qualifier struff in the first round. And after a close second set Paul got through in straights 6, 1, 7, 6, 6, 2. In the second round he'd take on the 30th seed David Dovich Fakina and after dropping two of the first three sets Paul would have to fight back to eventually prevail in 5, 6, 2, 2, 6, 6, 7, 6, 3, 6, 4. In the third round he'd take on countryman Brooksby who had just beaten number 2 seed Kasparud in the previous round. And this was Paul's easiest match to date getting through in straights 6, 1, 6, 4, 6, 3. In the fourth round he'd take on Batista Agu the 24th seed who had come off beating Andy Murray in the previous round. And after dropping the second set Paul would come back to win in 4, 6, 2, 4, 6, 6, 2, 7, 5 to advance to the quarter finals. These two have never played each other before mainly because Shelton is so new to the tour only turning pro at the end of last year. Paul's been around for a while in American tennis so there's going to be an interesting matchup to see two guys from the same country going at it for a semi-final. If Shelton's going to win he's going to have to use that lefty serve and really probably not play a long match against Paul because Paul likes to grind out the rallies so Shelton's going to have to keep it short and be aggressive. If Paul's going to win he's just going to have to outlast his opponent and also use his experience. I know he doesn't have much grand slam experience at this level in the quarter finals but he has played a lot more tennis than his younger opponent and especially in the big moments he's played on the big stage so I think he'll be able to handle the moment better but he's going to have to do that with this game. This is a really interesting matchup because so random I don't think anyone had this matchup going in to the first round. We had a lot of seeds that fell down early and these guys remain but I'm going to go with Shelton. I think he's young, exciting and he's got nothing to lose. Paul's the guy who knows more experience but I'm just going to go with Shelton for the random pick because this is a random pick no matter what happens. Shelton in five but let me know in the comments below who do you think is going to win this one.