Indian Wells Preview (Men's Edition)

Hey Y'all.

Happy World tennis day! The highlights included Sabatini's backhand and Federer losing a point to a kid.



Full highlights here:



This is one of the better matches of the 2015 WTA...



Murray has hired Bjorkman. Serena has said that Steffi's record is on her "to do" list. Still, it's unlikely she will be able to win every slam at least four times like Graf did.

The men's draw and both doubles draws are out. Peers/Zvonareva, Stephens/Townsend, Lisicki/Petkovic, Ivanovic/Kerber and, best of all, Stosur/Raymond are just some of the very exciting doubles pairings we have. I like Hingis/Mirza to beat Raymond/Stosur and then beat Makarova/Vesnina. The Russians will beat Hsieh/Pennetta.

Anderson/Melzer play the Bryans. Del Potro returns [he made the final here in '13] with Cilic. Kokkinakis plays with Andy Murray and Federer will take on Sock/Pospsil with Lammer. Nadal is with Busta. Qureshi/Raonic play Klaasen/Paes. Dimitrov/Fish is another pairing. Yes, that Fish. His comeback had been noted on Backspin. So many comebacks in these doubles. Fish/Dimitrov play Ferrer/Verdasco. I like Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin to make the semis but lose to Dodig/Melo. The Bryans will beat Peya/Soares and then win the final. Doubles is very difficult to pick, but there it is.

Qualifying this year is very strong. It could be a legitimate field at a 250: http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/en/2015-live/draws

Now, finally, onto singles action.


SECTION 1: DJOKOVIC
...Djokovic is defending huge points in this month. If he slips he loses the world number one ranking to some old guy. He could play Baghdatis, Benneteau and Anderson or Isner. He can't afford to slip up, and that is an unpleasant draw. They can all irritate him, but can they beat him? Isner/Anderson will be on centre/center court, possibly at night. Expect the Isner in America factor to come into play. Delbonis and Lajovic are also here as are two, probably very talented qualifiers.
4th Rd.: DJOKOVIC D. ISNER
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SECTION 2: FERRER
...Tomic is in Ferrer's section as the 32nd seed. He can cause an upset there. I think Ferrer eases past Dodig or Haider-Maurer before dealing with Tomic. Tomic will rise to around 33 in the world whilst Ferrer will also rise. Kokkinakis will rise to about 105 if he makes the fourth round. A shaky, returning from injury Cilic and Garcia-Lopez are here. I think this the time for the young Aussie. He should beat Struff and then he should beat GGL. Can he beat Cilic, if Cilic makes it? I'm willing to gamble.
4th Rd.: FERRER D. KOKKINAKIS
=============================
SECTION 3: MURRAY
...Nadal would fall into Federer's half. Of course he would. The Tennis Gods are having a chuckle up there. Murray plays Pospisil or Kukushin first up. He won't lose but he will be pushed. It's a good first match. Kohlschreiber likely awaits next. Murray should again be fine there if the German even makes it. Fognini and Gulbis lie here, accompanied by qualifiers, Groth and Mannarino. Gulbis has played well here before. Nobody is expecting him to do well. So for that reason and the fact he isn't utterly mentally outmatched for once he gets the nod.
4th Rd.: MURRAY D. GULBIS
Page Break=============================
SECTION 4: NISHIKORI
...This section is a bit strange. Lopez will beat Muller and Cuevas -- or Nieminen -- and look good doing it, too. This half of the section is fairly straightforward, which makes for a refreshing change. Verdasco plays Thiem or a qualifier. Nishikori plays Harrison or Fish. Imagine a night match with a raucous, perhaps even slightly tipsy, crowd. Imagine one of the Americans finds the zone, that magical place where everything goes their way. Could there be an upset? Yes. But really...
4th Rd.: NISHIKORI D. F.LOPEZ [or D for Deliciano if you prefer]
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SECTION 5: RAONIC
...Mines! Mines everywhere! Luckily Raonic has bombs of his own. He should navigate Bellucci/Bolelli fairly easy, but Dolgopolov or Giraldo are a lot more unpredictable. Milos likes rhythm. He won't get it in this section. Dimitrov likely gets Kyrgios, a fresh but rusty Kyrgios. Kyrgios plays a little like Tsonga, but is a slightly worse mover. He could overpower the Bulgarian. Still, the Bulgarian should beat the Aussie and Robredo, too.
4th Rd.: RAONIC D. DIMITROV [This has classic written all over it, but Raonic is higher ranked. I use that as a deciding factor sometimes like here]
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SECTION 6: NADAL
...In this, the French section, Nadal should cruise. He should open with Sisjling and then Chardy. On this court both can delay him and attack him but not for more than a set, let alone three. Gasquet is better than Simon. He leads the head to head comfortably 4-1. Estrella Burgos is also here and he is ready to cause trouble. The French have the numbers and it looks like Spain beats France twice in a row here.
4th Rd.: NADAL D. GASQUET
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SECTION 7: WAWRINKA
...Funny, funny Gods. Putting Wawrinka between the two players he can never beat. He at least does better than Ferrer against Fedal. He plays Haase or a qualifier first. Andujar versus Klizan is a toss up and, with the winner playing Rosol, Wawrinka has an unpredictable route to the quarters. Querrey, Johnson, Karlovic and Berdych are all here. Expect breakers. If you like big servers, I have the section for you. Karlovic is the wild deuce here. He has payed so well of late whilst Berdych has just slipped. Querrey will likely play Berdych, too. I haven't called an upset in a while.
4th Rd.: WAWRINKA D. KARLOVIC
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SECTION 8: FEDERER
...Nearly finished taking up your time, till Sunday at least. Fed gets Janowicz first up in all likelihood. Afterwards he gets Seppi or Youzhny, and expect revenge here although avenging such a tough loss doesn't make it feel any less painful. Agut, Istomin, Mayer, Sock. Enough said.
4th Rd.: FEDERER D. L. MAYER
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*Round of 16*
Djokovic d. Isner
Ferrer d. Kokkinakis
Murray d. Gulbis
Nishikori d. Lopez
Raonic d. Dimitrov
Nadal d. Gasquet
Wawrinka d. Karlovic
Federer d. Mayer
*QF*
Djokovic d. Ferrer
Nishikori d. Murray
Raonic d. Nadal
Federer d. Wawrinka
*SF*
Djokovic d. Nishikori
Federer d. Raonic
*FINAL*
Federer d. Djokovic

...Going on form, that seems to be fairly accurate. Federer is playing very well, Djokovic less so and Murray even less so. Kei has picked it up since Australia whilst Raonic has stayed in the zone.

Thanks all. Casey Dellacqua is sadly not in Indian Wells this year, meaning she will be losing a lot of ranking points. Don't forget to go over to WTA BACKSPIN!

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