The ATP 250 Houston 1\/8-finals offer some solid reads. Tien has dominated this matchup before and should stay in control, while Tiafoe\u2019s strong history in Houston makes him a reliable pick again. Michelsen also looks sharp and should have the edge if he maintains his level of serving.<\/p>\n
Tien – Basavareddy: 02.04.2026 22:30 CEST<\/strong> Learner Tien has won three of his last five matches. The last match he played was in Miami, where he lost to Majchrzak in the second round in three sets. He is the third seed this week in Houston.<\/p>\n Nishesh Basavareddy has won three of his last five matches. This week in Houston, Basavareddy won the opening match against Draxl in three sets. Around this time last season, the American played in Bucharest, where he lost to Jianu in the opening round.<\/p>\n According to the bookies, Tien is the favourite in this matchup, and we agree. He won the past three head-to-head meetings against Basavareddy without dropping a set. Tien is on the cusp of the top 20 in the rankings and will be fully confident coming into this match.<\/p>\n That being said, Tien winning in straight sets is a value bet.<\/strong><\/p>\n Value bet\/ the best odds: Learner Tien winning 2-0 @1.83 @bet365<\/strong><\/p>\n Hijikata – Tiafoe: 03.04.2026 01:00 CEST<\/strong> Rinky Hijikata has won three of his last five matches. This week in Houston, Hijikata defeated Kovacevic in the opening match in straight sets. He served well, offering and saving only two breakpoints.<\/p>\n Frances Tiafoe has won three of his last five matches. The last match he played was in Miami, where he lost to Sinner in the quarterfinals in straight sets. He was a finalist here in the past two editions. In 2023, Tiafoe won the title, defeating Etcheverry in the final.<\/p>\n According to the bookies, Tiafoe is the favourite in this matchup, and we agree. He enjoys playing in Houston, where he has always had decent success. We expect him to dominate in this matchup.<\/p>\n That being said, Tiafoe covering the games handicap is a value bet.<\/strong><\/p>\n Value bet\/ the best odds: Frances Tiafoe -3.5 games handicap @1.67 @bet365<\/strong><\/p>\n Michelsen – Popyrin: 03.04.2026 02:30 CEST<\/strong> Alex Michelsen has won four of his last five matches. This week in Houston, Michelsen won the opening match against Wong in straight sets. He offered and saved three breakpoints. Last season in Houston, the American lost to Tiafoe in the quarterfinals in straight sets.<\/p>\n Alexei Popyrin has lost three of his last five matches. This week in Houston, Popyrin outlasted Kypson in three tight sets, after losing the opening set 4-6.<\/p>\n According to the bookies, Michelsen is the slight favourite in this matchup, and we agree. Popyrin struggled in the opening round against Kypson. On the other hand, Michelsen dominated in his opening match, especially on his serve. We expect him to dominate tonight.<\/p>\n That being said, Michelsen covering the games handicap is a value bet.<\/strong><\/p>\n Value bet\/ the best odds: Alex Michelsen -2.5 games handicap @1.91 @bet365<\/p>\n Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ATP 250 Houston 1\/8-finals offer some solid reads. Tien has dominated this matchup before and should stay in control, while Tiafoe\u2019s strong history in Houston makes him a reliable pick again. Michelsen also looks sharp and should have the edge if he maintains his level of serving. ATP 250 Houston 1\/8-Finals Tien – Basavareddy: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5045,"featured_media":56980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17400],"tags":[18656,3970,5309,348,5862,18113,41696,17113],"class_list":["post-101181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","tag-alex-michelsen","tag-alexei-popyrin","tag-atp-houston","tag-frances-tiafoe","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-learner-tien","tag-nishesh-basavareddy","tag-rinky-hijikata"],"modified_by":"David Barisic","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5045"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101182,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101181\/revisions\/101182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nH2H: 4-0<\/strong><\/p>\nBest Bet to Make<\/h2>\n
\nH2H: 1-2<\/strong><\/p>\nBest Bet to Make<\/h2>\n
\nH2H: first meeting<\/strong><\/p>\nBest Bet to Make<\/h2>\n