Alex Michelsen and Tennys Sandgren will clash against each other in the semifinal of the Knoxville Challenger for the 2nd time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 2:30 pm on COURT 2. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Alex Michelsen who should win in 3 sets.
Alex Michelsen -> 1.53
Tennys Sandgren -> 2.42
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Prediction and head to head Alex Michelsen vs. Tennys Sandgren
This will be the 2nd time that Alex Michelsen and Tennys Sandgren clash against each other. The head to head is 1-0 for Sandgren (see full H2H stats), but they have never played each other on indoor hard courts.
The last time that they fought against each other, Sandgren won 7-6(4) 6-3 in the qualifications in the Fairfield Challenger back in 2022.
Alex Michelsen
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 16-17 | 11-7 | 4-9 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 61-27 | 30-13 | 4-3 | 19-7 | 8-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 23-10 | 14-8 | 0-1 | 9-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 114, the American reached the semifinal after beating Bernard Tomic 4-6 7-65 6-4, Gabriel Debru 6-3 3-6 6-4 and Nishesh Basavareddy 6-3 6-3.
In the quarter, The American had a good straight sets win against Basavareddy (6-3 6-3). During the match, Michelsen scored 55 points vs Basavareddy’s 27. Michelsen was pretty aggressive to blast 26 winners.
Talking about the service games, Michelsen blasted 11 aces and he was quite solid in conceding no double faults. Alex Michelsen was pretty efficient on serve to win 100% (26/26) of his 1st serve and 83% (10/12) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Alex was clinical in his return game without wasting any break point and break Basavareddy 3 times.
Overall Performance in this tournament
Alex has surrendered 2 set in this competition to conquer 55% of the points he played.
Michelsen has a fantastic win-loss record in the last 2 years having won 70% of his matches (78-33). 13-3 on indoor hard courts in 2023. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Michelsen has an aggregate22-4 match record in the last 2 years on indoor hard courts.
His best result of the current season was conquering the title the Chicago Challenger where he overcame Yuta Shimizu in the final 7-5 6-2.
The American has a compiled 55-23 win-loss record in 2023, 13-3 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Knoxville Challenger
Alex has never competed in this tournament before.
Tennys Sandgren
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 13-9 | 4-4 | 5-3 | 4-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 27-25 | 20-19 | 0-1 | 7-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 25-23 | 19-11 | 1-5 | 5-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 11-24 | 5-12 | 1-7 | 2-2 | 3-3 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 12-13 | 7-5 | 5-3 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 267, Sandgren got to the semifinal after beating Ethan Quinn 4-6 7-66 7-63, Brandon Holt 6-3 7-5 and Alexander Ritschard 7-69 6-4.
In the quarter, Tennys had a good straight sets win against Ritschard (7-69 6-4). During the match Sandgren scored 79 points vs Ritschard’s 70. Sandgren was very aggressive to blast 41 winners.
Talking about serving, Sandgren struck 11 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Tennys Sandgren was quite efficient on serve to win 89% (41/46) of his 1st serve and 62% (16/26) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Sandgren broke Ritschard once after converting 25% of his break points (1/4).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Sandgren has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 53% of the points he played.
Tennys’s best result of the current year was getting to the semifinal in the Cleveland Challenger,the Bloomfield Hills Challenger and the Lexington Challenger.
The American has an overall 27-24 win-loss record in 2023, 7-4 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Knoxville Challenger
Previously, his best result was reaching the semifinal in 2013. See his history.
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Michelsen | Sandgren |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 8 | 7 |
| Tot Games | 79 | 80 |
| Pts | 241-200 | 275-240 |
| Total Points | 441 | 515 |
| Winners | 115 | 126 |
| %Winners | 48% | 46% |
Both Michelsen and Sandgren played 3 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Alex Michelsen dropped 2 sets, while Tennys Sandgren lost 1 set. Michelsen has played 1 set more than Sandgren (8 vs 7). However, it’s interesting to notice that Michelsen played 1 game less than Sandgren. Michelsen scored 115 winners (48% of the total points). On the other side, Sandgren fired 126 winners (46%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Michelsen | Sandgren |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 28 | 38 |
| Avg per match | 9.3 | 12.7 |
| 1st in | 147/216 | 145/234 |
| %1st in | 68% | 62% |
| 1st pts | 115/147 | 126/145 |
| %1st pts | 78% | 87% |
| 2nd pts | 42/69 | 47/89 |
| %2nd pts | 61% | 53% |
Michelsen struck 28 aces (9.3 per match). Sandgren bagged 38 aces (12.7 per match). Michelsen won 78% points on his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 61% of the points. On the other side, Sandgren won 87% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 53% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Michelsen | Sandgren |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 9 | 5 |
| Converted | 9/15 | 5/24 |
| % Converted | 60% | 21% |
| Conceded | 7 | 8 |
| Saved | 2 | 5 |
| % Saved | 29% | 63% |
| Times Broken | 5 | 3 |
Michelsen broke his opponents 9 times with a 60% conversion rate. Alex surrendered his serve 5 times and he saved 29% of the break points that he conceded. Tennys broke his opponents 5 times with a 21% conversion rate. The American conceded his serve 3 times and he saved 63% of the break points that he conceded.
| Michelsen | |||||
| R1 Tomic | R2 Debru | 1/4 Basavareddy | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 4-6 7-65 6-4 | 6-3 3-6 6-4 | 6-3 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| Tot Games | 33 | 28 | 18 | 79 | |
| pts | 101-96 | 85-77 | 55-27 | 241-200 | |
| Total points | 197 | 162 | 82 | 441 | |
| Winners | 47 | 42 | 26 | 115 | |
| %Winners | 47% | 49% | 47% | 48% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 11 | 6 | 11 | 28 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1st in | 65/101 | 56/77 | 26/38 | 147/216 | |
| % 1st in | 64% | 73% | 68% | 68% | |
| 1st pts | 47/65 | 42/56 | 26/26 | 115/147 | |
| % 1st pts | 72% | 75% | 100% | 78% | |
| 2nd pts | 18/36 | 14/21 | 10/12 | 42/69 | |
| % 2nd pts | 50% | 67% | 83% | 61% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Converted | 4/6 | 2/6 | 3/3 | 9/15 | |
| Converted % | 67% | 33% | 100% | 60% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 | |
| Saved | 1/5 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 2 | |
| Saved % | 20% | 50% | – | 23% | |
| Times Broken | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| Sandgren | |||||
| R1 Quinn | R2 Holt | 1/4 Ritschard | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 4-6 7-66 7-63 | 6-3 7-5 | 7-69 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 36 | 21 | 23 | 80 | |
| pts | 116-110 | 80-60 | 79-70 | 275-240 | |
| Total points | 226 | 140 | 149 | 515 | |
| Winners | 51 | 34 | 41 | 126 | |
| %Winners | 44% | 43% | 52% | 46% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 13 | 14 | 11 | 38 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1st in | 63/101 | 36/61 | 46/72 | 145/234 | |
| % 1st in | 62% | 59% | 64% | 62% | |
| 1st pts | 51/63 | 34/36 | 41/46 | 126/145 | |
| % 1st pts | 81% | 94% | 89% | 87% | |
| 2nd pts | 18/38 | 13/25 | 16/26 | 47/89 | |
| % 2nd pts | 47% | 52% | 62% | 53% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Converted | 2/9 | 2/11 | 1/4 | 5/24 | |
| Converted % | 22% | 18% | 25% | 21% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Saved | 2/5 | 1/1 | 2/2 | 5 | |
| Saved % | 40% | 100% | 100% | 80% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
Tennis Scores in Knoxville Challenger
- Denis KudlaKudla – Aidan MchughMchugh (6-3 7-65) – See score progression
- Emilio NavaNava – Zachary SvajdaSvajda (6-4 6-4) – See score progression
- Tennys SandgrenSandgren – Alexander RitschardRitschard (7-69 6-4) – See score progression
- Alex MichelsenMichelsen – Nishesh BasavareddyBasavareddy (6-3 6-3) – See score progression
- Martin Damm/Alex RybakovDamm/Alex Rybakov – Shunsuke Mitsui/Filip PieczonkaMitsui/Filip Pieczonka (6-2 6-4) – See score progression
- Denis KudlaKudla – Aidan MchughMchugh (6-3 7-6(5)) – See score progression
- Emilio NavaNava – Zachary SvajdaSvajda (6-4 6-4) – See score progression
- Alex MichelsenMichelsen – Nishesh BasavareddyBasavareddy (6-3 6-3) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Denis KudlaKudla – Emilio NavaNava (1-1) – H2H and prediction