Tennis
2026-02-25 - Jenson Brooksby vs Karen Khachanov
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : ATP 500 Dubai Second Round
Wednesday 25th February 2026 - Scheduled 2pm
10am (British Time)
Preview
It has been a difficult start to 2026 for Jenson Brooksby who had suffered opening Round defeats in Melbourne, Dallas and Doha. Prior to the arrival in Dubai, Brooksby had only earned a single win on the Tour in 2026 and that was against an opponent Ranked way outside the top 500.
It makes his First Round win in this tournament feel really important and especially as it came against an in-form Zizou Bergs.
Now the American has to face another player who is producing some confident tennis when taking on Karen Khachanov- last week Khachanov reached the Doha Quarter Final before losing in a tough battle against Carlos Alcaraz. Karen Khachanov has to be really happy about his run in Doha and the World Number 16 has been playing with more confidence compared with his opponent.
Holding onto 89% of his service games will always give Karen Khachanov a chance to win matches.
You may not always see Karen Khachanov as a really strong return player, but his numbers on the hard courts have tended to be solid enough. We have not seen him find the consistency on the return in 2026 compared with the numbers he has produced in recent years, but Khachanov may feel he can put plenty of pressure on Jenson Brooksby and his 78% service games held mark.
Two previous matches on the hard courts have ended with each of these players winning once- the most recent of those have been won by Karen Khachanov in Cincinnati last summer as the Tour continued building up towards the final Grand Slam of the season.
Prior to that, Jenson Brooksby beat Khachanov in Indian Wells, but that was back in 2022 and it is the higher Ranked player who looks to be putting together enough quality tennis to frank the victory earned on the hard courts several months ago.
Prediction
Lay the games with the higher Ranked player who has shown a bit more form compared with Jenson Brooksby.
The Pick :
Jenson Brooksby 0-2 Karen Khachanov
