Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Shintaro Imai will fight against each other in the semifinal of the Astana Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 1:00 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 2 sets.

As per the initial odds, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is the pick to win this match.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer -> 1.198
Shintaro Imai -> 4.15

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Prediction and head to head Nicolai Budkov Kjaer vs. Shintaro Imai

There is no head to head record between Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Shintaro Imai since this will be the first time that they will clash against each other in the main tour.

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer

31 - 18win/loss

Hard
4-1
I Hard
11-5
Clay
13-9
Grass
3-3
Rank
132
High
132
LLLLWWWWWW
See allSTATS
Year Total Hard Clay I.hard Grass Carpet
2025 50-27 7-2 18-12 22-10 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
See all years

Ranked no. 187 (career-high), the Norwegian got to the semifinal after defeating Takuya Kumasaka 6-3 6-4, Maximus Jones 6-3 6-0 and Ricardas Berankis 7-6(4) 6-4.

In the quarter, Nicolai had a good straight sets win against Berankis (7-64 6-4). During the match, Budkov Kjaer scored 76 points vs Berankis’s 72. Nicolai was very aggressive to blast 32 winners.

Regarding the service games, Budkov Kjaer scored 5 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Overall, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer was extremely efficient on serve to win 76% (32/42) of his 1st serve and 58% (18/31) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. The Norwegian broke Berankis twice after converting 40% of his break points (2/5).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Nicolai hasn’t lost yet a set in this competition to conquer 56% of the points he played.

Budkov Kjaer has a solid win-loss record in the last 3 years having won 65% of his matches (57-31). 4-1 on hard in 2025. Regarding his performance on the same surface of this event, Budkov Kjaer has an aggregate9-6 win-loss record in the last 3 years on hard.

His best result of the current year was winning 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.

The Norwegian has an overall 31-18 win-loss record in 2025, 4-1 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Astana Challenger

Budkov Kjaer has never competed in this tournament before.

Astana Challenger
Budkov Kjaer's Record

Shintaro Imai

Shintaro Imai

24 - 13win/loss

Hard
23-11
I Hard
1-2
Rank
622
High
290
LWWLWWWLWW
See allSTATS
Year Total Hard Clay I.hard Grass Carpet
2025 26-15 23-12 0-0 3-3 0-0 0-0
2024 30-19 22-15 0-0 5-2 3-2 0-0
2023 5-4 5-4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0
2022 30-14 29-13 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0
2021 21-19 13-18 0-0 8-1 0-0 0-0
See all years

Ranked no. 577, Shintaro got to the semifinal after defeating Amir Omarkhanov 6-2 7-6(4), Edward Winter 7-6(4) 6-3 and Aleksandre Bakshi 2-6 6-4 6-4.

In the quarter against Bakshi, Imai recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (2-6 6-4 6-4). During the match Imai scored 81 points vs Bakshi’s 78. Shintaro was very aggressive to blast 34 winners.

About the serving games, Imai scored 8 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Overall, Shintaro Imai was very efficient on serve to win 76% (34/45) of his 1st serve and 55% (18/33) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve 3 times. Imai broke Bakshi 3 times after converting 60% of his break points (3/5).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Imai has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.

Imai’s best result of the current season was getting to the final in M15 Osaka and M15 Tokyo.

Shintaro has a compiled 24-13 win-loss record in 2025, 23-11 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Astana Challenger
Imai's Record

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

N.Budkov Kjaer
S.Imai
3h:57
3h:57
Time on court​
5h:47
5h:47
1h:40
1h:40
Last match​
1h:57
1h:57
3
3
Match played
3
3
57
57
Games Played​
71
71
6
6
Set played​​
7
7
200
200
Total points​
246
246
66.7
66.7
Avg point​
82
82
91
91
Winners
98
98
30.3
30.3
Avg Winners​
32.7
32.7
46%
46%
Ratio winners
40%
40%
-- Serve --
18
18
Aces
23
23
6
6
Avg Aces
7.7
7.7
8
8
Double Faults
6
6
2.7
2.7
Avg Double Faults
2
2
91/114
91/114
1st won total​
98/133
98/133
!
80%
80%
1st won %
!
74%
74%
36/68
36/68
2nd won total​
55/93
55/93
53%
53%
2nd won %
59%
59%
-- Break Points --
9/17
9/17
BP won
8/14
8/14
3/5.7
3/5.7
Avg BP won
2.7/4.7
2.7/4.7
!
53%
53%
Won
!
57%
57%
10
10
Conceded
12
12
3.3
3.3
Avg Conceded
4
4
2
2
Broken
5
5
!
0.7
0.7
Avg Broken
1.7
1.7
8
8
Saved
7
7
See Allstats

Matches, sets, games and points

Points Budkov Kjaer Imai
Match played 3 3
Tot Set 6 7
Tot Games 57 71
Pts 200-154 246-212
Total Points 354 458
Winners 91 98
%Winners 46% 40%

Both Budkov Kjaer and Imai played 3 matches. At the moment, Shintaro Imai lost 1 set while Nicolai Budkov Kjaer hasn’t dropped a set so far. Budkov Kjaer has played 1 set(s) less than Imai (6 vs 7). Therefore, Budkov Kjaer played 14 games less than Imai. The Norwegian scored 91 winners (46% of the total points). On the other side, Imai made 98 winners (40%).

Serve Performance

Serve Budkov Kjaer Imai
Aces 18 23
Avg per match 6 7.7
1st in 114/182 133/226
%1st in 63% 59%
1st pts 91/114 98/133
%1st pts 80% 74%
2nd pts 36/68 55/93
%2nd pts 53% 59%

Budkov Kjaer managed to score 18 aces (6 per match). Imai struck 23 aces (7.7 per match). Budkov Kjaer won 80% points behind his first serve. He pretty solid on his second serve to win 53% of the points. On the other side, Imai won 74% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 59% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks Budkov Kjaer Imai
Won 9 8
Converted 9/17 8/14
% Converted 53% 57%
Conceded 10 12
Saved 8 7
% Saved 80% 58%
Times Broken 2 5

The Norwegian broke his opponents 9 times with a 53% conversion rate. Nicolai conceded his serve twice and he saved 80% of the break points that he conceded. Imai broke his opponents 8 times with a 57% conversion rate. Shintaro conceded his serve 5 times and he saved 58% of the break points that he conceded.

Budkov Kjaer
R1
Kumasaka 		R2
Jones 		1/4
Berankis		 Total
Score 6-3 6-4 6-3 6-0 7-64 6-4
Tot Set 2 2 2 6
Tot Games 19 15 23 57
pts 65-55 59-27 76-72 200-154
Total points 120 86 148 354
Winners 35 24 32 91
%Winners 54% 41% 42% 46%
SERVE
Aces 8 5 5 18
Double Faults 1 3 4 8
1st in 45/61 27/48 42/73 114/182
% 1st in 74% 56% 58% 63%
1st pts 35/45 24/27 32/42 91/114
% 1st pts 78% 89% 76% 80%
2nd pts 6/16 12/21 18/31 36/68
% 2nd pts 38% 57% 58% 53%
Breaks
Won 3 4 2 9
Converted 3/7 4/5 2/5 9/17
Converted % 43% 80% 40% 53%
Conceded 5 1 4 10
Saved 4/5 1/1 3/4 8
Saved % 80% 100% 75% 85%
Times Broken 1 0 1 2
Imai
R1
Omarkhanov		 R2
Winter		 1/4
Bakshi		 Total
Score 6-2 7-64 7-64 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-4
Tot Set 2 2 3 7
Tot Games 21 22 28 71
pts 85-66 80-68 81-78 246-212
Total points 151 148 159 458
Winners 31 33 34 98
%Winners 36% 41% 42% 40%
SERVE
Aces 5 10 8 23
Double Faults 2 1 3 6
1st in 42/69 46/79 45/78 133/226
% 1st in 61% 58% 58% 59%
1st pts 31/42 33/46 34/45 98/133
% 1st pts 74% 72% 76% 74%
2nd pts 17/27 20/33 18/33 55/93
% 2nd pts 63% 61% 55% 59%
Breaks
Won 3 2 3 8
Converted 3/7 2/2 3/5 8/14
Converted % 43% 100% 60% 57%
Conceded 3 3 6 12
Saved 2/3 2/3 3/6 7
Saved % 67% 67% 50% 61%
Times Broken 1 1 3 5

Tennis Scores in Astana Challenger

Upcoming matches in the draw

Budkov Kjaer
More Stats
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Imai

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