The opening day of the ATP Indian Wells tournament takes place in California on Wednesday as the BNP Paribas Open begins another year of Masters 1000 action with a bunch of first round matches across the grounds.
We have to wait until Friday for the entry of the seeded players but there are still more than enough recognisable names dotted around the playing schedule on Wednesday to keep us entertained over the course of the day.
Stadium 1
There are three matches on the main court from the men’s draw on Wednesday and four Americans compete in the two day session games. We begin with Marcos Giron taking on the wildcard Aleksandar Kovacevic before arguably the pick of the Wednesday matches comes along when John Isner faces Brandon Nakashima. We have to wait until the night session for the third match to take place. That sees a return to the court for Gael Monfils. The popular Frenchman has a tricky assignment against Jordan Thompson to overcome.
Stadium 2
There are two matches on the second court from the ATP tournament on Wednesday but we have to wait until a couple of WTA games are played out before the first of them comes along. When it does the Chinese wildcard Yibing Wu faces Jaume Munar to close out the day session. The second men’s match comes in the night session but not until after a women’s match has been completed. When it does arrive it will see Alexander Bublik looking to utilise conditions which should suit him when he goes up against the qualifier Tung-Lin Wu.
Stadium 3
Three more men’s matches take place out on the third court on Wednesday. They begin right from the off when Ugo Humbert goes up against the Spanish player Bernabe Zapata Miralles in what is actually the only day session men’s game. The other two matches come along in the night session and they begin with an all-Argentinian clash between Diego Schwartzman and Federico Coria before we round off the action on this part of the grounds with two qualifiers going at it when Alejandro Tabilo and Maximilian Marterer meet for a place in the second round.
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Best of the Rest
There isn’t a great deal more action from the men’s draw on the outside courts on Wednesday but among the matches that are taking place is one between Jason Kubler and Lorenzo Sonego which might merit a better stage than it has got. Jiri Lehecha is also in action on Stadium 4 while on Stadium 5 the 2021 finalist Nikoloz Basilashvili will be looking to make early progress in the tournament as will Roberto Carballes Baena. Stadium 7 is where the likes of Laslo Djere and Cristian Garin get their campaigns underway.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets on the opening night of the competition with the first of those coming in the opener on Stadium 3 where Ugo Humbert looks a very weak favourite in what are likely to be slow conditions on this first day of main draw action. He recently made the final of a Challenger tournament but none of the opponents there will register on the casual followers’ radar. The Frenchman now goes up against Bernabe Zapata Miralles who has enjoyed his time in South America recently where he reached the semi-final in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro only to be denied by the eventual winner on both occasions. In those events he twice beat Francisco Cerundolo and saw off Diego Schwartzman and Albert Ramos-Vinolas among others so he has clay court form with him which could be significant in these slower conditions. You sense the errors are going to flow from the Humbert racquet as he forces the issue on a slow court and if Zapata Miralles can play a clean match it should be enough to get the job done.
Later in the day I like the draw that Cristian Garin has got to open up his main draw campaign. The Chilean has fallen from grace completely since his run at Wimbledon but conditions should be to his liking here and he has already shown that when coming through qualifying without dropping a set. Those wins should have built up some confidence but most importantly he will have adjusted to the conditions. His first round opponent Daniel Galan hasn’t seen a competitive court this week and arrives in Indian Wells off the back of one win in his last nine matches stretching back to last season. Neither of these players are in particularly good form but there is an awful lot more upside in Garin than his opponent and in these conditions, with a couple of wins behind him this week already, I’ll take the Chilean to deliver the goods in what is a big match for him as he looks to start the climb back to where he was earlier in his career.
Tips
Back B.Zapata Miralles to beat U.Humbert for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
Back C.Garin (-3.5 games) to beat D.Galan for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Sky Bet
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