Tennis
2026-01-22 - Karen Khachanov vs Nishesh Basavareddy
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : Australian Open Second Round
Thursday 22nd January 2025 - Scheduled 11am
12am (British Time)
Preview
This is a repeat of a First Round match from the US Open in August 2025 and it would be a surprise if Karen Khachanov is not able to frank that victory with another over Qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy.
The latter has already been a part of a viral moment at the 2026 Australian Open- during Qualifiers, his opponent celebrated after reaching 7 points in a final set tie-breaker, but had forgotten that it was a 'Super Tie-Breaker' and first to reach 10 points.
It clearly inspired Nishesh Basavareddy who fought back for the victory and made the 'choke' celebration when the win was confirmed.
Coming through three Qualifying matches will have given the 20 year old American a lot of confidence and he then spent over four hours on the court to get the better of his First Round opponent. That was a victory over an Australian, which will also have given Basavareddy confidence, but none of the opponents beaten in Melbourne have been Ranked inside the top 100 and this time the American faces the World Number 18.
There was nothing wrong with the numbers being produced by Karen Khachanov on the hard courts in 2025, but the 15-15 record was disappointing.
He has not been beaten before the Third Round at the Australian Open since 2018 and Karen Khachanov has previously reached the Semi Final at this opening Grand Slam.
Karen Khachanov has lost his last two matches on the hard courts when facing someone Ranked outside the top 100, but the last twelve months has seen him win many of those matches in confident style.
When he played Nishesh Basavareddy in New York City, Karen Khachanov was winning around 10% more points behind serve compared with his younger opponent and he has to believe he still has the power to dominate at times.
There is a big gap to bridge and Nishesh Basavareddy lost all five matches on the hard courts against top 50 Ranked opponents over the last twelve months- in those, Basavareddy has held just 56% of service games played, while also struggling on the return, and you have to think that Karen Khachanov will eventually wear down the younger player in this best of five set format.
Prediction
Lay the games with the top 20 Ranked player against the Qualifier.
The Pick :
Karen Khachanov 3-0 Nishesh Basavareddy
