Daily Tennis Tips – Tuesday March 25

See below for our daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Tuesday March 25 at the ATP Miami tournament, including the top tips and players to back in our tennis betting markets!

Fifth seed Casper Ruud lines up against 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo in the Miami Masters’ Round of 16.

Cerundolo has a 4-3 advantage against Ruud, including a 2-0 count on hard courts after winning matches at the 2023 Paris Masters and the 2024 Laver Cup. Ruud’s last win over the Argentine was at the Paris Olympics.

Ruud won the Dallas Open last month but was upset by Marcos Giron in his opening assignment at Indian Wells. So far in Miami, the Norwegian has come from a set down to beat Miomir Kecmanovic before accounting for 30th seed Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets.

Coming off a solid South American clay swing, Cerundolo made an impressive quarter-final charge at Indian Wells that included the scalp of Alex de Minaur; he was eventually halted by Carlos Alcaraz.

Cerundolo has been on fire in Miami, thrashing Alexandre Muller (6-1 6-2) and rolling 12th seed Tommy Paul (6-2 7-6).

The market can’t split the pair, but Cerundolo’s rousing form against some of the tour’s top players holds him in good stead against Ruud, who has not beaten a top-25 player since the ATP Finals.

The ageless Grigor Dimitrov and rising American Brandon Nakashima vie for a Miami Masters quarter-final berth.

The head-to-head is one-all after two previous clashes in 2022. Dimitrov won on clay at the Rome Masters, while Nakashima claimed a straight-sets win at the US Open.

World No.15 Dimitrov had battled injury since the Australian Open but returned impressively at Indian Wells, beating Nuno Borges and Gael Monfils before running into Carlos Alcaraz. He’s beaten Federico Cina (6-1 6-4) and 22nd seed Karen Khachanov (6-7 6-4 7-5) to get to this stage.

Nakashima climbed to a career-high No.32 after making the Delray Beach quarters, the Mexican Open semis and the Round of 16 at Indian Wells (where he beat Rinky Hijikata and Matteo Arnaldi), his best ATP 1000 result.  

He’s kept the roll going with rollercoaster wins over Roberto Carballes Baena (6-4 4-6 6-3) and David Goffin (6-3 6-7 6-3).

Despite his recent climb, Nakashima has not beaten a higher-ranked player since the Vienna Open last October. Dimitrov was the runner-up here last year and is piecing together another strong run.

After some recent disappointments, world No.5 Novak Djokovic is gathering steam at the Miami Masters – where he confronts 15th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the Round of 16.

Djokovic is 7-1 against Musetti, whose sole upset against the all-time great was at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic gained revenge at Monte-Carlo last year and notched further wins over the Italian at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics later in 2024.

Since the Australian Open, Djokovic was upset in his first matches at the Qatar Open by Matteo Berrettini and at Indian Wells by Botic van de Zandschulp. But he’s seen off the challenges of Rinky Hijikata (6-0 7-6) and Camilo Ugo (6-1 7-6) with dominant first-set showings.

Musetti arrived in Miami with 5-3 record in an injury-interrupted start to 2025, going down to Arthur Fils in the third round at Indian Wells. But he’s come from a set down twice here to eliminate Quentin Halys and the in-form Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The 23-year-old has two ATP 1000 quarter-final appearances to his name – in Paris in 2022 and Monte-Carlo in 2023 – while Djokovic is a six-time champion in Miami (though not since 2016) and has lost in the Round of 16 just three times in the past 15 years in a Masters tournament .

French veteran Gael Monfils and American tyro Sebastian Korda square off for the second time this month in the Miami Masters’ Round of 16.

Monfils took the win 7-6 7-6 in the second round at Indian Wells, before going down in a marathon three-setter against Grigor Dimitrov.

The 38-year-old has won three consecutive three-setters against Fabian Marozsan, 26th seed Jiri Lehecka and Jaume Munar in Miami, where his best result was a quarter-final appearance in 2016.

It’s been a disappointing start to 2025 for Korda – the 24th seed – aside from reaching the Adelaide International final, but he’s regrouped here with straight-set victories over Eliot Spizzirri and ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Florida resident was a quarter-finalist in Miami in 2021, while he made ATP 1000 semis in Shanghai in 2023 and Montreal in 2024.

Korda heads in as a $1.60 favourite, despite Monfils’ victory a fortnight ago. Another close-fought, serve-dominated duel looms.