Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Maximus Jones will square off in the 2nd round of the Astana Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Thursday at 1:30 pm on CENTER COURT. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Nicolai Budkov Kjaer who should win in 2 sets.
As per the initial odds, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is the pick to win this match.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer -> 1.36
Maximus Jones -> 2.94
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Prediction and head to head Nicolai Budkov Kjaer vs. Maximus Jones
There is no head to head record between Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Maximus Jones since this will be the first time that they will square off in the main tour.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer
29 - 18win/loss
136
132
LLWWLLLLWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 52-29 | 7-2 | 18-12 | 24-12 | 3-3 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 26-11 | 5-5 | 19-5 | 2-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 187 (career-high), Budkov Kjaer reached the 2nd round after defeating Takuya Kumasaka 6-3 6-4.
In the 1st round, Budkov Kjaer had a good straight sets win against Kumasaka (6-3 6-4). During the match, Budkov Kjaer scored 65 points vs Kumasaka’s 55. The Norwegian was extremely aggressive to blast 35 winners.
Talking about the service games, Budkov Kjaer made 8 aces and he committed only 1 double fault. Nicolai Budkov Kjaer lost the serve once and he saved 4 break points. Furthermore, Budkov Kjaer put 74% of his first serves in, winning 78% (35/45) of the points behind his 1st serve and 38% (6/16) on the 2nd serve. Budkov Kjaer broke Kumasaka 3 times after converting 43% of his break points (3/7).
Budkov Kjaer has a solid win-loss record in the last 3 years having won 64% of his matches (55-31). 2-1 on hard in 2025. Regarding his performance on the same surface of this tournament, Budkov Kjaer has an overall7-6 match record in the last 3 years on hard.
His best result of the current year was conquering the title the Glasgow Challenger where he beat Viktor Durasovic in the final 6-4 6-3 and the Tampere Challenger where he beat Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg in the final 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-2.
Nicolai has an aggregate 29-18 win-loss record in 2025, 2-1 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Astana Challenger
Nicolai has never competed in this tournament before.
Maximus Jones
26 - 17win/loss
354
353
LLWLLWLWLW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 36-28 | 23-16 | 11-10 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 21-26 | 21-22 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 28-20 | 27-19 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 43-46 | 35-36 | 8-10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 394, the Thai reached the 2nd round after defeating Renta Tokuda 6-3 6-3.
In the 1st round, Jones had a good straight sets win against Tokuda (6-3 6-3). During the match Jones scored 59 points vs Tokuda’s 49. Jones was extremely aggressive to blast 24 winners.
About the serving games, Jones bagged 5 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Maximus Jones was quite effective on serve to win 73% (24/33) of his 1st serve and 61% (17/28) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Maximus was clinical in his return game without wasting any break point and break Tokuda 3 times.
His best result of the current year was conquering the title the Abidjan 1 Challenger where he defeated Ricardas Berankis in the final 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Jones has a compiled 26-17 win-loss record in 2025, 18-10 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Budkov Kjaer | Jones |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 |
| Tot Games | 19 | 18 |
| Pts | 65-55 | 59-49 |
| Total Points | 120 | 108 |
| Winners | 35 | 24 |
| %Winners | 54% | 41% |
Both Budkov Kjaer and Jones played 1 match. Both players have not conceded a single set in this event so far. Talking about their workload, Budkov Kjaer and Jones have played the same amount of sets 2. However, Budkov Kjaer played 1 game more than Jones. The Norwegian scored 35 winners (54% of the total points). On the other side, Maximus made 24 winners (41%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Budkov Kjaer | Jones |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 8 | 5 |
| Avg per match | 8 | 5 |
| 1st in | 45/61 | 33/61 |
| %1st in | 74% | 54% |
| 1st pts | 35/45 | 24/33 |
| %1st pts | 78% | 73% |
| 2nd pts | 6/16 | 17/28 |
| %2nd pts | 38% | 61% |
Budkov Kjaer scored 8 aces . Jones struck 5 aces . Budkov Kjaer won 78% points behind his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 38% of the points. On the other side, Jones won 73% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 61% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Budkov Kjaer | Jones |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Converted | 3/7 | 3/3 |
| % Converted | 43% | 100% |
| Conceded | 5 | 4 |
| Saved | 4 | 4 |
| % Saved | 80% | 100% |
| Times Broken | 1 | 0 |
The Norwegian broke his opponent 3 times with a 43% conversion rate. Nicolai lost his serve once and he saved 80% of the break points that he conceded. The Thai broke his opponent 3 times with a 100% conversion rate. Jones was rock solid on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 4 break points.
| Budkov Kjaer | |||
| R1 Kumasaka |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 19 | |
| pts | 65-55 | 65-55 | |
| Total points | 120 | 120 | |
| Winners | 35 | 35 | |
| %Winners | 54% | 54% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 8 | 8 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 | |
| 1st in | 45/61 | 45/61 | |
| % 1st in | 74% | 74% | |
| 1st pts | 35/45 | 35/45 | |
| % 1st pts | 78% | 78% | |
| 2nd pts | 6/16 | 6/16 | |
| % 2nd pts | 38% | 38% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 3 | 3 | |
| Converted | 3/7 | 3/7 | |
| Converted % | 43% | 43% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 5 | |
| Saved | 4/5 | 4 | |
| Saved % | 80% | 80% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 1 | |
| Jones | |||
| R1 Tokuda |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 18 | 18 | |
| pts | 59-49 | 59-49 | |
| Total points | 108 | 108 | |
| Winners | 24 | 24 | |
| %Winners | 41% | 41% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 5 | 5 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 3 | |
| 1st in | 33/61 | 33/61 | |
| % 1st in | 54% | 54% | |
| 1st pts | 24/33 | 24/33 | |
| % 1st pts | 73% | 73% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/28 | 17/28 | |
| % 2nd pts | 61% | 61% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 3 | 3 | |
| Converted | 3/3 | 3/3 | |
| Converted % | 100% | 100% | |
| Conceded | 4 | 4 | |
| Saved | 4/4 | 4 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 100% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
Head 2 Head
LLWWLLLLWW
LLWLLWLWLW Tennis Scores in Astana Challenger
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