It feels like tennis season never actually slows down, but that’s a great thing for bettors. This sport offers all sorts of betting opportunities, which is why I’m going to provide you with tennis best bets as often as possible throughout the 2025 season. Over the next couple of days, the ATP and WTA Tours are posted up at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. This venue is known as “Tennis Paradise” and many consider this 1000-level event to be the fifth slam. That said, all of the top players are in the fields, making this a tournament you won’t want to miss. With that in mind, keep reading for my Indian Wells best bets for Thursday, March 13th. I’ll include some of my favorite plays below, but make sure you also monitor the picks page throughout the day. Gill Alexander posts his best bets there. I’ll also occasionally add plays based on how lines are moving.
Elina Svitolina vs. Mirra Andreeva
Andreeva has been smoking her opponents all week. The 17-year-old came to this event after having won her first 1000-level tournament, but there hasn’t been a dip in level or focus. She beat Clara Tauson, her opponent in the Dubai final a few weeks ago, 6-3, 6-0 in the Round of 32. Then, Andreeva earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Elena Rybakina, who is another player she beat in Dubai. Andreeva is now being accurately priced as a top-10 player in the sport. And she’s somebody that could very well win a major this year. However, I’m not sure she should be expected to beat Svitolina in straight sets.
Svitolina is a former world No. 3 that has a higher peak Elo rating than Andreeva. Simply put, the very best version of Svitolina was a little better than this current version of Andreeva. Of course, Svitolina isn’t playing her best tennis right now. But she’s only 30 years old and definitely has some high-level tennis ahead of her. And I happen to like the way she matches up with Andreeva.
Andreeva has been beating up on big servers and a quick-strike baseliners, but I’m interested in seeing how she looks against an in-form counter-puncher like Svitolina. The Ukrainian isn’t going to mind playing longer rallies, and she also has the power required to put points away when she sees openings.
I honestly think there’s a chance we see an upset here. All it would take is a solid serving performance from Svitolina. But I’m just putting a little on Svitolina to cover the set spread, as Andreeva’s current form can’t be ignored.
Bet: Svitolina +1.5 Sets (-135)
Tallon Griekspoor vs. Holger Rune
Arthur Fils vs. Daniil Medvedev
As a big Rune fan, I’m hoping the Dane can get by Griekspoor and continue his march towards another 1000-level title. I noted before the 2025 Australian Open that Rune could be in for a huge season, and this week has been the first time in which his improvements have been noticeable. Having said that, I do think it’s likely that Griekspoor grabs at least one set in their matchup, so I’m throwing that into a two-leg parlay. While Rune is the better overall player than Griekspoor, the Dutchman is 2-0 against Rune in their head-to-head series, with both wins coming on clay. Those conditions really should have suited Rune better, but there’s something to be said about Griekspoor’s ability to cruise through service games against an erratic player. The Dane has all the talent in the world, but he loses focus a couple of times each match. Griekspoor is a no-nonsense player that should be able to take advantage, helping him to avoid a straight-set loss.
In the other match, it’s just starting to look like Medvedev is finding his game. I’ve been hesitant to buy into it early on, but his steal scores are higher when looking at the numbers from Tennis Data Innovations and TennisViz. He’s starting to flip points around the way he did back when he was a consistent presence at the top of the men’s game. His hold percentage is also creeping back up towards 85%, which is also where it was when he was at his best. Taking that into consideration, I like his chances against Fils in slower conditions. Medvedev is one of the best returners in the world and should be able to break through a few times against the Frenchman’s booming serve. And his ability to get everything back in baseline exchanges should eventually lead to Fils errors.
PARLAY: Griekspoor +1.5 Sets and Medvedev ML (+105)
