The Indian Wells Main Draw could feature potential blockbuster third round clashes (Novak Djokovic vs Nick Kyrgios and Roger Federer vs Stan Wawrinka).
This year’s Australian Open winner and five-time Indian Wells champion Novak Djokovic could clash against Nick Kyrgios in a blockbuster third-round match at Indian Wells in the Californian desert, the first Masters 1000 tournament of the season.
Djokovic will play in his first tournament since his seventh triumph at last January’s Australian Open. The Serbian player will face a qualifier in the second round before facing Kyrgios, who beat Alexander Zverev in the final of the Acapulco Abierto Mexicano after a three-set win over Rafael Nadal in the third round. The Australian player beat Djokovic in both of his head-to-head matches against the world number 1 player and beat the Serb two years ago in the Round of 16 at Indian Wells.
Kyrgios will clash against either Phillip Kohlschreiber or this year’s Australian Open doubles champion Pierre Hugues Herbert.
Djokovic and Kyrgios have been drawn in the same quarter as Gael Monfils, who has returned to the top 20 for the first time since July 2017 after winning the final in Rotterdam against Stan Wawrinka and reaching the semifinal in Dubai, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the tie-break of the third set. This quarter of the draw also features last year’s Indian Wells semifinalist Borna Coric, Reilly Opelka and last year’s Hamburg and Beijing champion Nikoloz Basilashvili.
In the second quarter of the draw Alexander Zverev could take on his elder brother Misha in the second round. The Zverev brothers won the doubles title as a team in Acapulco last week. Misha will open against Martin Klizan in the first round. Alexander beat Misha in their first head-to-head clash in Washington last August. Zverev could face Grigor Dimitrov in a possible re-match of the clash they played in 2016 at Indian Wells where the German beat his Bulgarian rival 6-4 3-6 7-5. Zverev could face Milos Raonic in the Round of 16 and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter final. The Greek star, who won his first title of the year in Marseille and finished runner-up in Dubai to Roger Federer, could take on this year’s Rio de Janeiro finalist Felix Auger Aliassime in an all-Next Gen second round clash, if the young Canadian will beat last week’s Acapulco semifinalist Cameron Norrie from Great Britain
In the third quarter five-time Indian Wells champion Roger Federer will open his campaign against either Italy’s Andreas Seppi or Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in the second round before a blockbuster third round against either his compatriot Stan Wawrinka or Marton Fucsovics. Federer beat Wawrinka in the Indian Wells final in 2017 to claim his fifth title in the Californian desert. The two Swiss players clashed three times at Indian Wells in 2011, 2013 and 2017. Federer leads 21-3 in his 24 head-to-head matches against Wawrinka and dropped just one of the seven sets played against his compatriot at Coachella Valley.
Federer could face Fabio Fognini in the Round of 16 and either Kei Nishikori or Marin Cilic in the quarter final. Denis Shapovalov and Frances Tiafoe have been drawn in the same section of the draw as Federer. Tiafoe, who reached the Australian open quarter final this year, will play against Nicholas Jerry before a possible clash against 2018 Australian Open semifinal against Kyle Edmund. Shapovalov will face either Taylor Fritz or Steve Johnson.
The Swiss Maestro lifted the 100th title of his career last week beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in a straight-set final.
In the fourth quarter last year’s Miami Open champion John Isner could meet either Karen Khachanov or Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. Khachanov has a win-loss record of 4-5 this and has not won a top-60 player this year.
Rafael Nadal could start his Indian Wells campaign against either US Jared Donaldson or a qualifier in the second round before possible matches against Danil Medvedev in the fourth round and John Isner in the quarter final before a possible super semifinal against Federer.
Juan Martin Del Potro will not defend his title because a knee injury. Only five players have won the Indian Wells since 2003 (the Big Three Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic and Juan Martin Del Potro).
In the doubles tournament US twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan will be bidding to win their third title at Indian Wells after winning their first title of the season in Delray Beach. Bob and Mike Bryan will face a tough first round against Karen Khachanov and Danil Medvedev.
John Isner, who won this tournament last year alongside Jack Sock, will team up with his compatriot Sam Querrey. The US team will face Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, whowill be be bidding to win their seventh Masters 1000 title. The French doubles team triumphed at Indian Wells in 2016.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will face Denis Shapovalov and Rohan Bopanna in a tough first round. The line-up also features this year’s Australian Open finalist Henri Kontninen and John Peers. Kontinen won the Rotterdam doubles title with Jeremy Chardy. Novak Djokovic will team up with Fabio Fognini.
