The February grind has come to an finish and now the Sunshine Double is upon us, marking the unofficial begin of spring. Again-to-back Masters 1000 tournaments start this week with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier than the Miami Open takes middle stage.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won’t be taking their skills to the desert, however Carlos Alcaraz is within the draw regardless of a leg harm. Alcaraz is joined within the discipline by Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev, and Andy Murray.
Right here is my preview and picks.
BNP Paribas Open
The place: Palm Springs, California
Prize cash: $8,800,000
High seed: Carlos Alcaraz
Defending champion: Taylor Fritz
Medvedev has received three tournaments in three weeks and there’s no motive why he can’t make it 4 in a row. Take into account that the previous world No. 1 reached six finals in a row again in 2019, successful three of them (together with two Masters 1000s in Cincinnati and Shanghai). When Medvedev is scorching, he can actually be on hearth. The 27-year-old Russian has a good draw, too, with Ruud the top-four seed in his quarter and Alcaraz within the different half.
Tsitsipas is the best seed on Medvedev’s aspect of the bracket, however that quarter might be large open for the reason that Greek is as soon as once more coping with a shoulder situation. Rublev additionally isn’t in nice kind, so the door seems to be open for Cameron Norrie to make one other run within the desert. Norrie received the title in 2021 and reached the quarterfinals final yr. Matteo Berrettini is a possible third-round opponent for the left-handed Brit, however–like many gamers on this discipline–the Italian has been struggling bodily.
On the high of the draw Alcaraz finds himself in a mushy part, however his destiny comes all the way down to his leg harm. The second-ranked Spaniard missed the Australian Open and was lower than one hundred pc throughout a loss to Norrie within the Rio de Janiero title match. If Alcaraz isn’t in peak situation, there is a chance for Tommy Paul to succeed in the semis and for Fritz to make a return journey to the ultimate. Fritz beat Nadal within the 2022 Indian Wells title match.
Among the many first-round matchups to observe are Murray vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Ben Shelton vs. Fabio Fognini, J.J. Wolf vs. Marton Fucsovics, Adrian Mannarino vs. Dominic Thiem, John Isner vs. Brandon Nakashima, and Gael Monfils vs. Jordan Thompson. Monfils, who used a protected rating to get into the match, has not performed for the reason that Montreal Masters final summer season.
Quarterfinal picks: Tommy Paul over Andy Murray, Taylor Fritz over Holger Rune, Daniil Medvedev over Yibing Wu, and Cameron Norrie over Frances Tiafoe
Semifinals: Fritz over Paul and Medvedev over Norrie
Last: Medvedev over Fritz
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and in addition maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
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