ANDY MURRAY, JO-WILFRIED TSONGA IN ACTION AS SEEDS BEGIN IN INDIAN WELLS ON SATURDAY

Written by: Staff on 11th March 2017

ANDY MURRAY, JO-WILFRIED TSONGA IN ACTION AS SEEDS BEGIN IN INDIAN WELLS ON SATURDAY

epa05837659 Andy Murray of Britain does an interview on media day during the 2017 BNP Parnibas Open tennis tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, USA, 08 March 2017. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

Murray, Tsonga in action as seeds begin in Indian Wells on Saturday

By Ricky Dimon

The stars are coming out on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Following first-round byes, the 32 seeds will be in action this weekend. Among those taking the court in the top half of the draw are Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Philipp Kohlschreiber. Ricky previews three of the best matchups and makes his predictions.

(1) Andy Murray vs. (Q) Vasek Pospisil

Murray and Pospisil will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers. All four of their previous encounters have gone Murray’s way and he is 9-0 in total sets against the Canadian. Additionally, not even one tiebreaker has been required. The current world No. 1 prevailed once in 2014 and three times in 2015–including via a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 decision at Wimbledon. They also squared off in Indian Wells two seasons ago and the current world No. 1 dominated 6-1, 6-3.

Murray is 12-2 in 2017 and bounced back from a stunning fourth-round setback against Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open by winning the Dubai title last week. He got accustomed to the Indian Wells conditions on Friday evening, when he partnered with fellow Brit Dan Evans to defeat Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 during first-round doubles action. It has already been an entertaining stay in the desert for Pospisil, who qualified for the main draw and beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 in round one. The 129th-ranked Canadian also won a doubles match on Friday, 11-9 in a super-tiebreaker with Steve Johnson over Marcin Matkowski and Alexander Peya. With Pospisil also possibly dealing with a minor back issue, Murray should roll to another routine victory in this matchup.

Pick: Murray in 2

Fabio Fognini vs. (7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

The head-to-head story between Tsonga and Fognini is a similar one, as the Frenchman has taken all four of their previous meetings and is 9-1 in total sets against Fognini. All four of their previous encounters have gone Tsonga’s way and the Frenchman is 9-1 in total sets at Fognini’s expense. Each of their four of their hard-court sets, however, has been competitive. Tsonga got the job done 6-4, 7-6(0) at the 2011 Canada Masters and 7-5, 7-6(4) early last season in Auckland.

Fognini’s place in the last 64 looked questionable at best for almost all of two sets against Konstantin Kravchuk on Thursday, but the Italian impressively snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. He dropped 10 of the match’s first 11 games en route to a 6-0, 4-1 deficit before storming back to prevail 0-6, 7-5, 6-4. Tsonga is an outstanding 17-3 for for the season and coming off consecutive titles in Rotterdam and Marseille. The seventh seed is a modest 13-8 lifetime at this tournament, but both current form and past history against each other suggest that this one should be a beatdown.

Pick: Tsonga in 2

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (28) Philipp Kohlschreiber

Kohlschreiber and Dolgopolov will be meeting for the fourth time in their careers. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in Kohlschreiber’s favor, but Dolgopolov took their only previous hard-court tilt 6-3, 7-6(6) indoors at the Paris Masters in 2011. Kohlschreiber’s wins came in 2011 (6-3, 7-6(5) on the grass of Halle) and again on grass in Stuttgart two seasons ago (6-3, 6-3).

A red-hot Dolgopolov is 8-2 in his last 10 matches and 8-1 in his last nine not including retirements. The Ukrainian is often outstanding in Indian Wells, too. He has reached at least the third round in five of six previous appearances, including a semifinal run in 2014 that included an upset of Rafael Nadal. Dolgopolov, the recent Buenos Aires title winner, opened on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Viktor Troicki. Kohlschreiber is contesting his first singles match since a wild one against Andy Murray in Dubai, where the world No. 31 blew seven match points and lost 6-7(4), 7-6(18), 6-1. The second-set tiebreaker alone lasted more than 30 minutes–longer than the entire Bernard Tomic vs. Jarkko Nieminen match at the 2014 Miami Masters. It will be tough for Kohlschreiber to bounce back against a confident opponent who almost always fares well in Indian Wells.

Pick: Dolgopolov in 3