The beginning of the third round of the BNP Paribas Open forms the schedule for another day of action at the ATP Indian Wells event on Monday as the latest Masters 1000 tournament heads towards an exciting conclusion.
That is because we haven’t seen too many upsets despite the slow conditions, so the schedule for both days of the third round looks like being a good one. We’ve seen plenty of close matches so far and more are expected on Monday.
Stadium 1
British interest takes place in the first match on the main stadium court on Monday, one of three men’s matches over the course of the piece. Dan Evans looks to move into the last 16 of the tournament but he faces a real battle against Diego Schwartzman, who should be suited to these conditions. When they are done the top ranked American will be back on show as Reilly Opelka takes on Grigor Dimitrov who is showing signs of form once again. We have to wait for the night session for the other men’s match and deep into it too as the clash between Daniil Medvedev and Filip Krajinovic is the second match on.
Stadium 2
The trade-off for having three matches on the main court is that there are only two men’s games on the second court. They come in the last match of the day session and the first match of the night session. The first game sees Denis Shapovalov looking to find some form when he meets the Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev before the night session match sees Frances Tiafoe looking to knock off the Miami Open winner Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the last 16.
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Stadium 3
There are three other matches over the course of the day on Monday and they all come over on Stadium 3. The action on that court begins with a men’s match when Lloyd Harris takes on the form horse Casper Ruud who is looking to back up his win in San Diego recently. We have to wait until the end of the day for the last two matches, the first of which sees Cam Norrie playing Roberto Bautista Agut before Andrey Rublev rounds off the day when he takes on Tommy Paul.
Betting
The form of Denis Shapovalov has been a concern for a while and that makes me like Aslan Karatsev to see him off on Monday. Karatsev probably doesn’t want conditions this slow but it isn’t like Shapovalov is going to excel in those conditions either and if the Russian can stay in the rallies long enough the openings to put the Canadian away should arrive, if Shapovalov hasn’t shot himself in the foot with an unforced error by then. Karatsev saw off Hubert Hurkacz in San Diego last week which should have given him a bit of confidence and he took care of Salvatore Caruso in fine style in the first round here. Shapovalov came through his opening match when Vasek Pospisil retired after three games so he won’t really have got a feel for the conditions in that time and has patchy form. That all leads to Karatsev winning this one in my eyes.
I also like the odds on Frances Tiafoe to beat Hubert Hurkacz as well. The courts were probably a little slow for the big weapons of the Pole anyway but the fact this match has been put on at night is only going to emphasise that so the athletic prowess of Tiafoe has the chance of coming to the fore. Tiafoe is a showman and he has clearly revelled in playing in front of crowds again, particularly home crowds and you would imagine there will be a decent crowd on Stadium 2 for this one. Hurkacz won Miami and recently won in Metz but with these heavy balls not getting through the court, Tiafoe might be able to use his movement to keep getting that extra ball back and take him down for a third time in what will be their fourth meeting.
Tips
Back A.Karatsev to beat D.Shapovalov for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back F.Tiafoe to beat H.Hurkacz for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
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