Brandon Nakashima vs Jason Kubler Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Winston-Salem Open

Prediction published on 20/08/2023, 10:15  by Devesh Jaganath in Tennis Predictions

World number 72 Brandon Nakashima will take on 86th-ranked Jason Kubler in the opening round of the ATP Winston-Salem Open on Monday. The winner of this match will go on to face Arthur Fils in round two. Nakashima began the year inside the top 50 and was expected to push above his peak ranking of 43 fairly quickly. However, apart from a semi-final appearance on the clay court in Lyon back in May, the American has failed to impress and has not gone past the second round of any other tournament. After a very poor grass swing which included first-round exits in Eastbourne and at Wimbledon, he comes here to North Carolina off the back of three consecutive hard-court defeats in Washington, Canada, and Cincinnati last week. As a result, he has dropped outside the top 70 in the world and could find himself slipping further down the rankings if he is unable to find top gear soon. Nakashima’s record this year stands at a disappointing 9-17 and 5-9 on the hard court, which is the worst figures he has delivered on the surface in the last five years. While his performances over the last few months make it difficult to confidently back him to show improvement here, the bookies make the American out to be a strong favourite in this one. 

Despite Nakashima’s difficulties of late, he will likely be confident of breaking his recent winless run coming up against 86th-ranked Jason Kubler, who has been far from impressive himself. After a very poor start to the season, the Australian has spent most of the last few months competing on the Challenger circuit and managed to secure a title on the grass at the Ilkley Challenger event back in June. However, since returning to the highest level, Kubler’s struggles became evident again. The Australian was knocked out in the first round at Mallorca by Constant Lestienne, followed by a second-round defeat at Wimbledon by Nicolas Jarry. Since then, Kubler has only played one tournament back on the hard surface, which was in Cincinnati last week. There he managed a promising straight-sets win over Hugo Gaston in the first qualifying match but was sent packing the next day by Dusan Lajovic in the second qualifier. He is now 25-17 for the year and 10-7 on the hard surface. While he does come into the match as a 3/1 underdog, Kubler did post a better record than Nakashima on the hard surface in the first half of the season, which included a third-round appearance at Indian Wells back in March. He cannot be counted out just yet.