Brandon Nakashima faces Rinky Hijikata and Karen Khachanov will be up against Jakub Mensik in second action at the ATP Indian Wells Masters 2025 with the matches to be played on Saturday, March 8. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Indian Wells.
Looking to Watch & Bet on the ATP Indian Wells Open Live Streaming Online?
- For tennis fans in the Europe & elsewhere go to bet365 > Tennis > Live Streaming here* to watch & bet on the ATP & WTA tennis live.
*Live streaming T&Cs: You can watch live sport on your mobile, tablet or desktop including Soccer, Tennis and Basketball. All you need is a funded account or to have placed a bet in the last 24 hours to qualify. Geo-restrictions apply.
Brandon Nakashima v Rinky Hijikata Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been three previous meetings between these two with Nakashima leading 2-1. He had won in 2024 in Houston and Hangzhou while Hijikata pulled one back earlier this year in Adelaide.
Brandon Nakashima had fallen to 134th in the world at the start of the 2024 season but slowly and steadily he has grown as a player and earned a place in the top 40 by the end of the year.
And a couple of excellent showings this year meant that he entered the Indian Wells Masters as a seeded player, ranked 33rd in the world.
These came recently, at the Delray Beach Open in which he shocked Reilly Opelka on his way to the quarterfinals and then at the Acapulco Open where he made the semifinals.
He will now take on the struggling Rinky Hijikata who notched up a rare win for the season.
Having gone into his first round match with three successive defeats under his belt and a 11/10 underdog against Alexander Shevchenko, Hijikata routed his opponent 6-1, 6-3. This was just his fourth tour level win of the season spread over seven tournaments.
Can he now go past Nakashima as well?
Nakashima v Hijikata prediction: Nakashima to win: 9/25
- Get all the remaining tennis betting tips and predictions of the day here
- Get all the remaining Indian Wells Open 2025 betting information here
- Also read what’s a Tennis Betting Accumulator here
Karen Khachanov v Jakub Mensik Preview
Head-to-Head: There has been one previous meeting between these two players which Khachanov won in Dubai last year.
It’s been a poor start to the season for Karen Khachanov with the Russian winning just three matches over these two odd months. Two of those came at the Australian Open where he overcame Adrian Mannarino and Gabriel Diallo to reach the third round before getting taken out by Alex Michelsen.
Other than that and a first round win in Dubai against the 178th-ranked Dan Evans, Khachanov hasn’t had much to cheer for.
He lost to Kei Nishikori in his opening match of the season at Hong Kong, then went down to Hamad Medjedovic in Marseille before Daniil Medvedev got the better of him in Doha.
Khachanov had made the second round in Indian Wells last year, so a loss here doesn’t peg him back too much as far as his ranking points are concerned but he sure would like to get some winning momentum going for the rest of the season where he will have a lot of points to defend.
Speaking of winning momentum, Jakub Mensik looked to have lost a bit of that coming into this tournament but came through in straight sets against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Having started the season with successive wins at each of his first three tournaments, he won just one match from the following three matches after that. Which is why a 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Etcheverry on a surface that might have suited his Argentine opponent could be a bit of a relief.
He might give Khachanov a run for his money too.
Khachanov v Mensik prediction: Mensik to win: 11/10
