The third round of the ATP Indian Wells competition comes to a close in the BNP Paribas Open on Monday as we finalise the draw for the last 16 in the opening Masters 1000 tournament out in the desert.
We are starting to see the big names fall by the wayside in this event which will keep the number one seed Carlos Alcaraz on his toes when he steps onto court on what is a pretty decent Monday schedule in California.
Stadium 1
Just the two men’s matches take place inside the main stadium on Monday, one in the day session and one at night. It is a couple of women’s matches which actually get play underway and when they are done Taylor Fritz will continue his title defence. The American had to come from a set down in the previous round and will hope things are a little easier against Sebastian Baez. A seriously good looking women’s match takes place to open up the night session before Carlos Alcaraz will look to make progress in the tournament. He goes up against Tallon Griekspoor for a last 16 spot.
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Best of the Rest
Once again the other six matches take place away from the main stadium. Half of them will be played on Stadium 2 where Hubert Hurkacz meets Tommy Paul to open up the day before Stan Wawrinka faces Holger Rune. There is also the all-British clash between Jack Draper and Andy Murray. Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime meet on Stadium 3 as do Jannik Sinner and Adrian Mannarino while Alex Molcan goes up against Marton Fucsovics in what is a huge opportunity for both men over on Stadium 4.
Betting
Hubert Hurkacz has a 3-0 lead over Tommy Paul in their past meetings but two of those were exhibition matches during Covid and the other was in 2021 and I think it is fair to say the American is a good deal better now than he was back then so I’m a little surprised that Paul is the outsider for this match and as big as 6/5 to come through it. A look through the Hurkacz record and he tends to be better on the faster courts and his record here is nothing special unlike in Miami where it is much better.
Paul eased past Jan-Lennard Struff in the previous round to build on his good runs in Melbourne and in Acapulco. To be fair to Hurkacz, he won in Marseille recently but the indoor hard court there is faster than the ones they encounter here. Paul just looks like the more progressive of the two and I fancy he’ll be able to stay in the rallies longer than Hurkacz, whose biggest weapons might be negated by the sluggish nature of the court. Paul at the price is the way forward for me.
Tips
Back T.Paul to beat H.Hurkacz for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Betway
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