TENNIS – World Number 1 and defending champion Rafael Nadal and last year’s Wimbledon champion Andy Murray may square off in a mouth-watering quarter final at Indian Wells. Other potential quarter finals could be Federer vs Wawrinka, Berdych vs Gasquet and Djokovic vs Del Potro. Diego Sampaolo
Nadal and Murray, who claimed last year’s editions of the hard-court Master 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami respectively, have been drawn in the first quarter of the Indian Wells in the Californian desert and could clash in a potential quarter final. Nadal could face a very tough path to title defence as his possible rival in the semifinal may be either Roger Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka.
Nadal, three-time Indian Wells champion, will start his US hard-court campaign against either Denis Istomin or Radek Stepanek (who lost in three sets against Federer in the quarter finals in Dubai last week). The Mallorcan legend, who won two tournaments this year in Doha and Rio de Janeiro, could face Ukraine’s Aleksander Dolgopolov in the third round, and either Italian top-player Fabio Fognini, who has moved up to World Number 14 in the ATP Ranking following his fourth round at the Australian Open and his win in Vina del Mar or Gael Monfils. Nadal beat Dolgopolov in the recent Rio de Janeiro final and Monfils in the Doha final at the beginning of January.
Murray could face Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the third round, It may be a tough test for the Dunblane star as Andujar held two match points against Nadal in the Rio semifinal and led by a set and a break against Murray in Acapulco last week.
Murray could face another stiff challenge in the third round against Canadian rising star Milos Raonic for a place in the quarter finals.
Federer and Wawrinka could meet in a possible super Swiss derby in the quarter final in the second quarter of the draw. Federer showed glimpses of his past glorious tennis last week when he won the ATP in Dubai where he beat Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and Tomas Berdych in the final recovering from one set down in both matches, a clear indication that the Swiss Maestro is back to his top form also thanks to his successful relationship to Stefan Edberg. Dubai marked Federer’s first title win since Halle in 2013 last June.
The Basel native will start against a qualifier and play against Dimitry Tursunov in the second round but his path to the quarter finals could not be easy as he may face either Tommy Haas (who retired during the semifinal against Paolo Lorenzi last week in San Paolo) or Kei Nishikori in the third round.
Wawrinka is still unbeaten this year as he won in Chennai and the Australian Open (the first Grand Slam of his career) and helped Switzerland win the Davis Cup first round match against Serbia.
The Lausanne player, who has moved up to World Number 3 after his triumph in Melbourne, will debut against either Alex Bogomolov Jr. or Ivo Karlovic and either Lleyton Hewitt or Kevin Anderson in the third round. Anderson played very well in the recent weeks reaching two consecutive finals in Delray Beach and Acapulco.
The third quarter of the draw will feature a potential quarter final match between last week’s Dubai finalist and this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Tomas Berdych and French top player Richard Gasquet.
This year’s Rotterdam champion Berdych may face Bautista Agut in the second round, Florian Mayer in the third round and a potential clash against the winner of the third round match between Grigor Dimitrov and Ernests Gulbis. Berdych leads 4-2 in his previous head-to-head matches against Dimitrov but he lost in the first round at Wimbledon in 2012.
Dimitrov won the second title of his career last week in Acapulco against Kevin Anderson after beating Andy Murray during the week. Gulbis won the Open 13 in Marseille two weeks ago. Dimitrov faced Gulbis last week in Acapulco where the Bulgarian prevailed after a late night match which lasted two hours and 40 minutes.
Gasquet’s potential rival in the third round could be US giant John Isner who has to overcome Phillip Kohlschreiber in the third round. The German lost in the semifinal of Dubai against Berdych last week.
Second seed Novak Djokovic may face last year’s Indian Wells finalist Juan Martin Del Potro in a potential fourth quarter of the draw in a re-match of 2013 Indian Wells semifinal won by Del Potro and last year’s Wimbledon marathon semifinal won by Djokovic after four hours.and 43 minutes (the longest Wimbledon semifinal in history). Djokovic, semifinalist in Dubai last week, may face in-form Croatian Marin Cilic, who won two titles in Zagreb and Delray Beach and lost the Rotterdam final against Berdych after knocking out Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Andy Murray.
Del Potro, who has suffered from wrist problems in recent weeks, will make his debut against Feliciano Lopez in the second round and Vasek Pospisil in Montreal before possibly facing Tsonga in the third round.
