Dušan Lajović vs Tennys Sandgren Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Indian Wells

Prediction published on 06/03/2023, 04:22  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 06/03/2023 at 05:30 in Tennis Predictions

World number 71 Dusan Lajovic is the top seed in the Indian Wells qualifiers. He takes on Tennys Sandgren in the first qualifying round with his opponent ranked down at 224th. Lajovic began this year ranked 80th but was as low as 90th in mid-February. The 32-year-old lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Denis Shapovalov. Since then, he's been on the South American clay court circuit playing four tournanents and reaching the quarter finals in the last three. Last week saw him in the Chile Open where he lost in the last eight to evental runner-up Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Now he's back on outdoor hard courts and his best in the Indian Wells tournament was reaching the fourth round six years ago. The winner of this match takes on either 16th seed Ricky Hijkata or Felipe Meligini Alaves for a place in the main draw of this Masters event.

Tennys Sandgren is outside the top 200 at present but was as high as 41st four years ago. He began this year in 265th place in the rankings and just five months ago was down at 444th. He began his rise back up the rankings by winning the Challenger Tour event held in Las Vegas. Most of last year was spent on the ITF and Challenger Tours. He qualified for the main draw at Indian Wells in 2022 but lost in the first round to Botic van de Zandschlup. The American didn't win a single main draw match on the ATP Tour last year. 2023 has seen him again doing well on the Challenger Tour with the highlight being a semi-final in Cleveland. He failed to qualify for the ATP Delray Beach Open and his last match saw him beaten by then world number 309 Elmar Ejupovic.  Back Lajovic to get the win here.