Alex Michelsen vs Nishesh Basavareddy Prediction Next Gen Finals Tennis Picks 12/18/24

Alex Michelsen is one of three Americans to qualify for this year's Next Gen ATP Finals and the one with the strongest chance of following Brandon Nakashima's footsteps and becoming champion at this tournament.

Michelsen made his debut 12 months ago in Jeddah, but his week ended in a whimper with three group stage defeats and was eliminated.

But after another much-improved season in which he tallied 42 wins and broke into the world's Top 50 for the first time, he'll like his chances of reaching the semifinal at the very least. 

Michelsen's last competitive match was in the semifinal in Metz a month ago, losing to eventual champion Benjamin Bonzi.

Nishesh Basavareddy Preview

Nishesh Basavareddy took a leap of faith and turned professional just a few weeks ago, after spending two years playing college tennis at Stanford University. 

Basavareddy will forgo his eligibility to play in the NCAA in order to test himself at the top level. He is only 19 and is coming off a great season in which he won 48 matches.

He played in seven finals in total and managed to win two ATP Challenger titles in Tiburon and most recently in Puerto Vallarta at the end of November. 

Alex Michelsen vs Nishesh Basavareddy Head-To-Head

• Michelsen and Basavareddy are tied at 1-1 in their head-to-head.

• Both meetings took place in the 2023 season at the Challenger level.

Alex Michelsen vs Nishesh Basavareddy Prediction

Basavareddy enters this year's tournament with a reputation as one of the standout collegiate players and he's making the transition into becoming a fully-fledged professional. He doesn't have so much experience playing against Top 100 players, so we'll get a first look at how he will handle the occasion. But he's riding on a wave of momentum and confidence after winning 28 of his last 34 matches. Basavareddy is a live underdog here at such massive odds of +350, meaning you can quadruple your stake. Michelsen hasn't done a lot of convincing to start as a -526 pre-match favorite and can potentially slip up.