The second round of the ATP Indian Wells event concludes on Saturday when the other half of the draw play down to the last 32 at the BNP Paribas Open as the opening Masters 1000 series tournament of the season continues.
We saw the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud cruise through on Friday but Stefanos Tsitsipas was a surprise casualty and his loss will keep the seeded players beginning their campaign on Saturday on their toes.
Stadium 1
We have a couple of matches on the main stadium court on Saturday with the first one coming after two women’s clashes have been completed. When it does come along we will see the start of the Taylor Fritz title defence which sees him closing out the day session against Ben Shelton. The other match comes in the second part of the night session and will see the number one seed start out on his quest for the tournament win as Carlos Alcaraz meets the qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis who looks in dangerous form once again.
Stadium 2
That means we get three matches over on Stadium 2 where the opening two games are from the ATP draw. The first of those sees the Canadian number one Felix Auger-Aliassime taking on the Spanish player Pedro Martinez. There was scheduled to be another Spanish player up in the second match to take on Andy Murray but the withdrawal of Pablo Carreno Busta means the British star will face lucky loser Radu Albot. In the night session the last of the men’s matches sees Mackenzie McDonald meeting Holger Rune.
Stadium 3
There are three men’s matches over on Stadium 3 on Saturday and they are the opening three games to be played on the day. The first one sees Jannik Sinner beginning his Masters 1000 campaign for the season when he goes up against Richard Gasquet. When they are done the Australian Open semi-finalist Tommy Paul meets the qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff before we close out the men’s action in this part of the complex when the home wildcard Jack Sock meets Francisco Cerundolo.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Best of the Rest
Once again there isn’t a whole lot more in the way of men’s matches around the grounds on Saturday but over on Stadium 4 the ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz will get his tournament underway while on Stadium 5 we will see the likes of Dan Evans, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti and Sebastian Baez in singles action for the first time this week. Miomir Kecmanovic and Borna Coric are dotted on the outside courts.
Betting
Tommy Paul has started 2023 like a house on fire and I expect him to have too much firepower for Jan-Lennard Struff when they meet on Saturday. The German deserves a lot of credit for qualifying for this competition and then going on to win his first round clash with Quinten Halys, especially in slower conditions than would be ideal for him, but I expect him to come up short against the improving American who now resides in the top 20 in the world rankings.
Paul has made it to the semi-final of the Australian Open where he thrashed Struff 3-0 in the first round to set up that run to the last four. Since then he has reached the final in Acapulco where he ran out of steam after an epic three hour semi-final against Taylor Fritz which he came out on top in. There will be no fitness issues here and in conditions that Paul can manage better than the German I expect the American to build on his career record with Struff which has seen him win all seven sets they have played.
Tips
Back T.Paul (-3.5 games) to beat J-L.Struff for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
