The BNP Paribas Open is continuing on after a massive turn out for Sunday’s matches. Today the featured players of the day are: Novak Djokovic, John Isner, the Bryan Bros, Maria Sharapova, Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal (doubles), Ana Ivanovic, and Caroline Wozniacki. You can also catch Stanislas Wawrinka facing Gilles Simon, or Francesca Schiavone against Lucie Safarova.
Let’s start out with the world #1 Novak Djokovic. He cruised in his opening round against Golubev, the Serbian star looks comfortable on the Indian Wells Tennis Garden courts and is hoping to stay aggressive in his approach to capturing the 2012 title. Look for him to have exciting points as he plays Del Ray Beach winner, Kevin Anderson, scheduled to be the second match on Stadium 1.
John Isner is fast approaching the top 10 and goes up against his good buddy Juan Monaco. They are set to start first on Stadium 2 this morning. Isner’s power game is a clear favorite in the desert against Monaco’s counter-punching skills. Get a seat early because you don’t want to have to deal with long lines to find a seat!
The Bryan twins face off against Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez, two Spanish players who are skillful at the net and like to play an attacking style (even in singles!). It could turn into a Davis Cup atmosphere on court 7 as they are set to play second after Dominika Cibulkova and Roberta Vinci. For those of you looking to improve your doubles game or simply enjoy the fast paced action, head over and expect a solid doubles clinic by the Bros.
Other doubles action on the grounds includes Rafael Nadal partnering with Marc Lopez to take on Alexandr Dolgopolov and Xavier Malisse. This should be a very fun match to watch as all 4 players are veterans on tour and are outstanding shot-makers. If you want to see something you’ve never seen before, head over to second match on court 8 this afternoon. There, John Isner and Sam Querrey will team up as a team to take on Berlocq/Chela. Do you think the Argentines will stand on the baseline to return serve or at the back fence?!?
For the evening session on Stadium 1, Caroline Wozniacki plays Swede Sofia Arvidsson. Should be a good battle for both players; Seeing as Lisicki and Kvitova were both upset as well as Azarenka close to getting knocked out, I’d say the WTA tour is on upset alert. However Wozniacki has made a career out of dominating match ups like these, I don’t see her losing tonight. After this match, Ryan Harrison will play the man who knocked out Andy Murray, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Harrison has been electrifying crowds everywhere these days and his play this week shows that there’s no sign of that stopping anytime soon. It will be interesting to see if Garcia-Lopez can play to the same level as he did against Murray and how well Harrison can continually assert himself on the court as the aggressor.
That’s your Monday preview for matches going on around the 2012 BNP Paribas Open!