Dubai Tennis Championships & Chile Open predictions and tennis betting tips: Djokovic worth taking on

Where to watch

Dubai Tennis Championships
Amazon Prime Video from 10am Monday

Best bet

Jiri Lehecka to win Dubai Tennis Championships
1pt each-way 20-1 Coral, Hill, Ladbrokes

Sebastian Baez to win Chile Open
1pt 6-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

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Tournament previews

The action is coming thick and fast on the ATP and WTA tours and before attention turns to Miami and Indian Wells in March, there are a handful of top events taking place this week from the clay courts of Santiago to Monterrey's hard courts.

Perhaps the most eye-catching of all events, however, is the men's iteration of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The women's Dubai Tennis Championships concluded on Saturday with Iga Swiatek suffering a shock straight-sets defeat to Barbora Krejcikova in the final and there are more big names involved in the ATP 500 event.

Appearing for the first time since he won his 22nd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic is the pick of the 32-player field and is 4-5 favourite to take the title.

With a 12-0 record to his name this year, Djokovic will take some stopping in Dubai but he has won the event only once since 2013 and is housed in a challenging top half of the draw along with 4-1 outright shot Daniil Medvedev.

With that in mind, it could pay to go for an outsider in the bottom half and few make more appeal at a double-figure price than plucky Jiri Lehecka.

Lehecka was an impressive performer on the Australian Open hard courts earlier this year, reaching the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam courtesy of wins over Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

He followed that with another decent showing in the Qatar Open recently, making the last four in which he was edged by Andy Murray in three sets, and he is a great each-way play at 20-1.

In the bottom half of the draw, Lehecka opens against Alex Zverev, who looks beatable after returning from a lengthy injury layoff, and the Czech should also be fancied to overcome either of the other big guns in his section in Andrey Rublev and Auger-Aliassime.

South America's clay-court circuit also continues this week with the Chile Open in Santiago and third seed Sebastian Baez looks a worthy title contender.

Baez came close to winning this event last year, losing in three sets in the final against Pedro Martinez, but he could go a step further in 2023.

The 22-year-old is an emerging talent on the ATP tour and looks right at home on clay, having won the Cordoba Open earlier in the month before making the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro in the last week.

Baez was too complacent in his Rio quarter-final against unseeded Chilean Nicolas Jarry - a player he should have beaten - and he could go deep if he keeps his focus in Santiago.

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