Sebastian Korda’s 2023 tennis season got off to a great start.

The American finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the first tournament of the season and then made a run to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open but, unfortunately, picked up an injury that forced him to miss four months of action.

Korda returned for the business end of the clay season but lost in the second round of the French Open.

Losing three of his first four matches after the long layoff may not seem like an encouraging sign, but very few players bounce right back after missing that much time.

The important thing was that Korda got through the matches unscathed and is on his way back to being fully fit as we hit the grass and North American hard courts, which is where you’d expect Korda to do his best work.

The first step towards salvaging his season is a match against world No. 28 Daniel Evans at the Cinch Championships in London.

Evans is a crafty player who can construct points and make things awkward, but Korda’s athleticism and talent should prove to be too much for the British when all things are equal.

But all things aren’t equal for this match, as it’s just the fifth competitive singles match for the 22-year-old in almost five months, and Evans is the type of opponent who can give a player searching for form all sorts of issues.

In the end, this looks like a tight match, and the Over 2.5 sets looks like a good bet at plus-money.

Over 2.5 sets (+125, BetMGM).

Michael Leboff analyzes tennis for Action Network.