It is quarter final day at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday as the ATP Indian Wells event plays down from eight to four as we get closer to crowning the winner of the opening Masters 1000 tournament of the season.
We have lost Novak Djokovic in the earlier stages of the tournament but some world class players have gathered through to the quarter finals so we are guaranteed some decent tennis across two sessions of play.
Stadium 1
There are two quarter finals from the ATP draw on the Stadium 1 court but they come along once we have seen a pair of women’s matches played out. When the men do take to the court they round off the day session with potentially the pick of the last eight clashes when Alexander Zverev meets Carlos Alcaraz in what should be a cracking contest. The second game comes along in the night session and that also looks a tasty proposition as Daniil Medvedev looks to make it through to the semi-final for the second year in succession. Holger Rune is the man who will be standing in his way.
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Stadium 2
The other two quarter finals come along over on Stadium 2 and in order to avoid a clash between the matches they are the first two games to take place. We get going with the Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner looking to make it back into another Masters 1000 semi-final when he meets Jiri Lehecka, the lowest ranked player left in the tournament. When they are done the one remaining American man in the event will be on court as Tommy Paul goes up against a Casper Ruud, who was really made to battle in the previous round.
Betting
Tommy Paul doesn’t have the best record against Casper Ruud having lost their last four meetings but I do think that he can get the better of the Norwegian when the two men meet on Thursday. Ruud was made to battle by Gael Monfils in the previous round and was on court for nearly 2.5 hours whereas Paul is yet to be kept on court for as long as 1.5 hours in any of his three matches. Usually that might be a negative as he hasn’t been asked to battle but when these two were in the side of the draw which played Wednesday I think that could play a part.
I don’t think there is much between these two players despite Ruud having won their last four but when you break it down, one of those was at the Laver Cup which has a different dynamic to it, and the other three were at Grand Slams where Paul took Ruud the distance twice. One of those was in 2020 and Paul is clearly a much better player now and is at home here which makes me think he might have more of an edge here. At 6/5 I’ll take him to reach the semi-finals despite Ruud’s recent good form.
Tips
Back T.Paul to beat C.Ruud for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
