Nick Kyrgios vs Botic Van De Zandschulp Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Kyrgios' fitness still a concern

Kyrgios is a two-time quarter-finalist at the Indian Wells Masters, but I've still got grave concerns surrounding his fitness - specifically a wrist issue, which caused him to call an abrupt end to a practice session.

With this in mind, I'm backing Van De Zandschulp to come away with a relatively straightforward victory here. The Dutchman has a second chance at the main draw after losing in qualifying and this is a tremendous opportunity to take the scalp of an injured Kyrgios before testing himself against Novak Djokovic in the second round. Kyrgios was also visibly hindered in his straight sets defeat to Jacob Fearnley at the Australian Open, so tough to see the Aussie doing too much damage in his return here.

This will be the first career meeting between the pair.

Not much form to go on for Kyrgios - the Aussie missed the better part of two years after undergoing wrist and knee surgeries, the former of which threatens to cut his career in the sport short.

The 29-year-old returned at the Brisbane International to start the season, but had a nightmare draw and bombed out in the opening round against big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in three tiebreaks.

Kyrgios seemingly picked up an abdominal strain in that defeat, which put his Australian Open campaign in jeopardy. He ultimately took to court, but barely threatened in a straight sets defeat to Jacob Fearnley.

Awarded a wildcard into Indian Wells, Kyrgios will be looking to draw on positive memories at this tournament, where he's twice made the quarter-finals, defeating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud.

It's not been a great start to the season for Van De Zandschulp - he's only managed one tour-level win, heading into Indian Wells with a 1-5 record.

To be fair to Van De Zandschulp, he's copped some rough draws, including facing Alex de Minaur in the opening round of the Australian Open and Carlos Alcaraz first up in Rotterdam, where he ultimately took a set off the eventual champion before losing in three.

Van De Zandschulp won his first match of the season in Doha over Abdullah Shelbayh, but he ran into de Minaur again in the second round.

The Dutchman went down in the final round of qualifying at Indian Wells earlier this week to Matteo Gigante, but he's received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser and will be looking to make the most of his second chance.