Mark Lajal and Beibit Zhukayev will fight against each other in the final of the Little Rock Challenger for the 2^nd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Sunday at 1:00 pm on STADIUM COURT. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Mark Lajal who should win in 3 sets.

(image) As per the initial odds, Mark Lajal is the pick to win this match.
Mark Lajal -> 1.47
Beibit Zhukayev -> 2.59

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Prediction and head to head Mark Lajal vs. Beibit Zhukayev

This will be the 2^nd time that Mark Lajal and Beibit Zhukayev face off. The head to head is 1-0 for Zhukayev (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on hard.

The last time that they played, Zhukayev won 6-4 7-6(8) in the qualifications in the Brest Challenger back in 2022.

Mark Lajal

Ranked no. 311, Mark got to the final after defeating Mitchell Krueger 6-2 7-6³, Tung-Lin Wu 7-5 6-3, Aziz Dougaz 7-6⁵ 6-2 and Antoine Escoffier 4-6 6-3 6-2.

In the semifinal against Escoffier, Lajal recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (4-6 6-3 6-2). During the match, Lajal scored 86 points vs Escoffier’s 73. The Estonian was very aggressive to blast 26 winners.

Regarding the service games, Lajal bagged 5 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Mark Lajal lost the Serve 5 times and he saved 4 break points. Furthermore, Lajal put 60% of his first serves in, winning 58% (26/45) of the points behind his 1st serve and 60% (18/30) on the 2nd serve. Lajal broke Escoffier 7 times after converting 64% of his break points (7/11).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Estonian has surrendered 1 set in this event to conquer 54% of the points he played.

Lajal has a solid record in the last 3 years having won 65% of his matches (78-42). 13-4 on hard in 2023. Regarding his performance on the same surface of this event, Lajal has an aggregate53-20 win-loss record in the last 3 years on hard.

The Estonian’s best result of the current year was reaching the semifinal in the Morelos Challenger,M25 Kursumlijska Banja and the Little Rock Challenger.

The Estonian has an aggregate 27-11 win-loss record in 2023, 13-4 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Little Rock Challenger

Mark has never competed in this tournament before.

Beibit Zhukayev

Ranked no. 325, the Kazakhstani got to the final after beating Colin Markes 6-0 6-3, Peter Gojowczyk 6-2 6-2, Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-2 6-7¹ 7-6⁵, Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7⁶ 6-4 7-5 and Adam Walton 6-7⁶ 6-4 7-6⁴.

In the semifinal against Walton, The Kazakhstani recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (6-7⁶ 6-4 7-6⁴). During the match Zhukayev scored 112 points vs Walton’s 107. Beibit was pretty aggressive to blast 59 winners.

Talking about serving, Zhukayev blasted 18 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Beibit Zhukayev conceded no breaks for the entire match to save 4 break points. Furthermore, Zhukayev put 60% of his first serves in, winning 88% (59/67) of the points behind his 1st serve and 50% (22/44) on the 2nd serve. The Kazakhstani broke Walton once after converting 25% of his break points (1/4).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Beibit started his run at this tournament from the qualifications. In the main draw, he has conceded 3 set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.

Beibit’s best result of the season was reaching the final in M25 Trimbach.

Beibit has an aggregate 15-15 win-loss record in 2023, 6-5 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Little Rock Challenger

Previously, his best result was reaching the qualifications in 2022. See his history.

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Lajal played 4 matches while Zhukayev competed in 5 matches. Zhukayev started his run from the qualifications while Lajal had a direct access to the main draw. Both players lost a set in the event. Mark Lajal conceded 1 set, while Beibit Zhukayev surrendered 3 sets. Lajal has played 4 set(s) less than Zhukayev (9 vs 13). Therefore, Lajal played 46 games less than Zhukayev. The Estonian scored 125 winners (41% of the total points). On the other side, The Kazakhstani scored 194 winners (43%).

Serve Performance

Lajal made 18 aces (4.5 per match). Zhukayev fired 67 aces (13.4 per match). Lajal won 69% points on his first serve. He pretty effective on his second serve to win 54% of the points. On the other side, Zhukayev won 84% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 54% of the points.

How they played the important points

The Estonian broke his opponents 18 times with a 47% conversion rate. Mark dropped his serve 10 times and he saved 58% of the break points that he conceded. The Kazakhstani broke his opponents 17 times with a 47% conversion rate. Beibit conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 76% of the break points that he conceded.