Brandon Nakashima vs Jiri Lehecka Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Indian Wells

Prediction published on 07/03/2024, 03:34  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 07/03/2024 at 04:35 in ATP Indian Wells Prediction

Jiri Lehecka is the 32nd seed for the ATP 1000 Masters tournament at Indian Wells. He takes on wild card Brandon Nakashima in round two after receiving a first round bye. Up next for the winner is a last 32 match against either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or unseeded Andy Murray. Lehecka has already won one outdoor hard court title this year and that's the surface this match will be played on. His title was won in Adelaide two months ago, beating Jack Draper in the final. He only made it to round two of the Australian Open but recently got to the quarter finals in Dubai where he had a good win over Karen Khachanov. Lehecka trails Nakashima 2-1 in previous meetings but beat him in Toronto last year. Both of Nakashima's wins came at the NextGen finals where only four games are needed to win a set.

Nakashima was ranked 93rd at the start of this tournament. That's well below his career high of 43rd achieved in October 2022. That was a good year for the American with the fourth round reached at Wimbledon and the last 32 at the US Open. He hasn't been able to build on that in recent years though. Most of his time in 2024 has been spent on the Challenger Tour. He's had success with a title won in Tenerife and a final reached in Koblenz but those matches have been against lower ranked opponents. Only one win over a top 100 ranked player had been achieved this year before his straight sets win over Christopher Eubanks in round one here. We tip Lehecka to get the win in this match.