Dino Prizmic vs Nishesh Basavareddy Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Prizmic to start Next Gen Finals with a win

It's an intriguing match to kick off proceedings. Basavareddy experienced a tremendous start to the season and looked like he was about to cement himself on the main tour, but he ended up playing a limited schedule and his ranking dropped from a career-high ranking of No. 99 mid-year to a current mark of No. 167. When his Auckland semi-final points drop off at the turn of the year, he will be closer to 250. Meanwhile, Prizmic would arguably already be a top 100 player if it wasn't for a series of long-term injury issues that began last year and continue to pop up - including towards the end of this year, with the Croatian retiring in his last tournament in Stockholm.

For me, this match hinges on the fitness of Prizmic - if the third seed is healthy, he's been overall the superior player throughout the course of this year. Basavareddy showcased immense promise in January, but has barely made an impact since. I'm backing Prizmic to prevail, while Over 23.5 total games also looks like a strong play - it landed in all of Basavareddy's three matches at last year's Next Gen ATP Finals.

This will be the first career meeting between the pair.

Prizmic comes into this contest having registered a 4-4 record at tour-level and an impressive 27-9 record at Challenger level, which helped propel him swiftly back up the rankings.

The 20-year-old first burst onto the scene at the 2024 Australian Open, where after qualifying for his first Grand Slam main draw, he took a set off Novak Djokovic in the opening round.

However, injuries prevented his progress up the rankings and by February 2025, he was ranked No. 393 in the world.

Prizmic worked hard to grind his way back up the rankings via the Challenger Tour, making a total of five finals this season and winning two titles, with those results helping him qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time.

The Croatian didn't have an enjoyable end to the season though - Prizmic lost four of his last five matches and was last seen retiring in Stockholm qualifying.

Basavareddy started the year with a bang, but that was as good as it got as he ended up registering a 7-13 record at tour-level and 6-7 record on the Challenger Tour.

The American demonstrated his potential in Auckland as he qualified for the main draw before advancing all the way to the semi-finals, defeating the likes of Alejandro Tabilo and Alex Michelsen before going down to Gael Monfils.

Basavareddy shares one thing in common with Prizmic - they've both taken a set off Djokovic in the first round of the Australian Open, with the young American giving the Serbian legend a real test before succumbing 6-4 3-6 4-6 2-6 in January.

From there, Basavareddy's year slowly faded - he only won back-to-back completed matches twice in the main draw of any tournament.

However, ultimately his Auckland semi-final run was the main contributer to Basavareddy qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the second straight year. Basavareddy was eliminated in the group stage last year, but did claim a solid win over Juncheng Shang.