Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Ricardas Berankis will play each other in the quarter of the Astana Challenger for the 1^st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Friday at 1:30 pm on CENTER COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Nicolai Budkov Kjaer who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is the pick to win this match.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer -> 1.5
Ricardas Berankis -> 2.45

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Prediction and head to head Nicolai Budkov Kjaer vs. Ricardas Berankis

There is no head to head record between Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Ricardas Berankis since this will be the first time that they will play each other in the main tour.

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer

Ranked no. 187 (career-high), Nicolai reached the quarter after defeating Takuya Kumasaka 6-3 6-4 and Maximus Jones 6-3 6-0.

In the 2^nd round, Budkov Kjaer had a good straight sets win against Jones (6-3 6-0). During the match, Budkov Kjaer scored 59 points vs Jones’s 27. Nicolai was exceptionally aggressive to blast 24 winners.

Talking about the service games, Budkov Kjaer blasted 5 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Nicolai Budkov Kjaer was pretty efficient on serve to win 89% (24/27) of his 1st serve and 57% (12/21) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Budkov Kjaer broke Jones 4 times after converting 80% of his break points (4/5).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Norwegian hasn’t surrendered yet a set in this competition to conquer 60% of the points he played.

Budkov Kjaer has a solid record in the last 3 years having won 64% of his matches (56-31). 3-1 on hard in 2025. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this competition, Budkov Kjaer has a compiled8-6 match record in the last 3 years on hard.

His best result of the 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 defeated Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg in the final 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-2.

Budkov Kjaer has an overall 30-18 win-loss record in 2025, 3-1 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Astana Challenger

Budkov Kjaer has never competed in this tournament before.

Ricardas Berankis

Ranked no. 387, Berankis got to the quarter after defeating Zangar Nurlanuly 6-2 6-2 and Luca Castelnuovo 7-6(2) 4-6 6-4.

In the 2^nd round, The Lithuanian defeated Castelnuovo (7-6² 4-6 6-4). During the match Berankis scored 106 points vs Castelnuovo’s 91. Richard was quite aggressive to blast 47 winners.

About the serving games, Berankis fired 11 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Overall, Ricardas Berankis was exceptionally effective on serve to win 77% (47/61) of his 1st serve and 71% (25/35) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. The Lithuanian broke Castelnuovo once after converting 17% of his break points (1/6).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Richard has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 57% of the points he played.

The Lithuanian’s best result of the year was reaching the final in the Abidjan 1 Challenger.

The Lithuanian has an overall 23-13 win-loss record in 2025, 10-7 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Astana Challenger

Previously, he won this tournament once in 2014. See his history.

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Budkov Kjaer	Berankis
Match played	2	2
Tot Set	4	5
Tot Games	34	49
Pts	124-82	167-125
Total Points	206	292
Winners	59	69
%Winners	48%	41%

Both Budkov Kjaer and Berankis played 2 matches. At the moment, Ricardas Berankis lost 1 set while Nicolai Budkov Kjaer hasn’t conceded a set so far. Budkov Kjaer has played 1 set(s) less than Berankis (4 vs 5). Therefore, Budkov Kjaer played 15 games less than Berankis. Nicolai scored 59 winners (48% of the total points). On the other side, Richard managed to score 69 winners (41%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Budkov Kjaer	Berankis
Aces	13	15
Avg per match	6.5	7.5
1st in	72/109	89/146
%1st in	66%	61%
1st pts	59/72	69/89
%1st pts	82%	78%
2nd pts	18/37	39/57
%2nd pts	49%	68%

Budkov Kjaer fired 13 aces (6.5 per match). Berankis scored 15 aces (7.5 per match). Budkov Kjaer won 82% points behind his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 49% of the points. On the other side, Berankis won 78% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 68% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Budkov Kjaer	Berankis
Won	7	5
Converted	7/12	5/12
% Converted	58%	42%
Conceded	6	5
Saved	5	4
% Saved	83%	80%
Times Broken	1	1

Budkov Kjaer broke his opponents 7 times with a 58% conversion rate. The Norwegian dropped his serve once and he saved 83% of the break points that he conceded. Berankis broke his opponents 5 times with a 42% conversion rate. Berankis conceded his serve once and he saved 80% of the break points that he conceded.

Budkov Kjaer
	R1 Kumasaka	R2 Jones	Total
Score	6-3 6-4	6-3 6-0
Tot Set	2	2	4
Tot Games	19	15	34
pts	65-55	59-27	124-82
Total points	120	86	206
Winners	35	24	59
%Winners	54%	41%	48%
SERVE
Aces	8	5	13
Double Faults	1	3	4
1st in	45/61	27/48	72/109
% 1st in	74%	56%	66%
1st pts	35/45	24/27	59/72
% 1st pts	78%	89%	82%
2nd pts	6/16	12/21	18/37
% 2nd pts	38%	57%	49%
Breaks
Won	3	4	7
Converted	3/7	4/5	7/12
Converted %	43%	80%	58%
Conceded	5	1	6
Saved	4/5	1/1	5
Saved %	80%	100%	90%
Times Broken	1	0	1

Berankis
	R1 Nurlanuly	R2 Castelnuovo	Total
Score	6-2 6-2	7-62 4-6 6-4
Tot Set	2	3	5
Tot Games	16	33	49
pts	61-34	106-91	167-125
Total points	95	197	292
Winners	22	47	69
%Winners	36%	44%	41%
SERVE
Aces	4	11	15
Double Faults	1	2	3
1st in	28/50	61/96	89/146
% 1st in	56%	64%	61%
1st pts	22/28	47/61	69/89
% 1st pts	79%	77%	78%
2nd pts	14/22	25/35	39/57
% 2nd pts	64%	71%	68%
Breaks
Won	4	1	5
Converted	4/6	1/6	5/12
Converted %	67%	17%	42%
Conceded	2	3	5
Saved	2/2	2/3	4
Saved %	100%	67%	84%
Times Broken	0	1	1

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Richard BerankisBerankis – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Shintaro ImaiImai – Aleksandre BakshiBakshi (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Clement ChidekhChidekh – (0-0) – H2H and prediction