Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are taking the court along with the rest of the field on Wednesday in Indian Wells. They are set for respective meetings with Sam Querrey and Milos Raonic.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (23) Sam Querrey
Djokovic and Querrey will be meeting for the sixth time in their careers when they clash in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday night. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 4-1, including 2-1 on hard courts, but he lost their last meeting 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 last fall at the Paris Masters. Querrey’s losses to the world No. 1 came in 2008 (twice), 2010, and earlier last year at the Rogers Cup.
Djokovic should be far more interested for this one than he was in Paris, where he melted down after a first-set bageling of Querrey. The top-seeded Serb did not play great in wins over Fabio Fognini and Grigor Dimitrov, but in general he is in outstanding form. In fact, Djokovic has not lost a match since his setback against Querrey, a stretch of 20 straight wins. Querrey lost early in Memphis and Delray Beach but is back on track in the desert. The 6’6” American rolled over Ivo Karlovic in straight sets then avenged a Memphis lost to Marinko Matosevic by surviving 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 7-5 on Wednesday. Querrey is now 12-5 for the season.
Djokovic does not seem to be in any kind of dominant form this fortnight, so a competitive affair here is not out of the question. Still, there is no reason to think the underdog will actually pull off the upset.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
(8) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (17) Milos Raonic
Tsonga and Raonic will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide on Wednesday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came last summer at the London Olympics, where Tsonga survived a memorable 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 thriller.
You can be sure this one won’t be as long, but it should provide more entertainment with both players in fine form. Tsonga, a recent champion in Marseille, improved his 2013 record to 11-3 with hard-fought, straight-set wins over James Blake and Mardy Fish. Raonic also got a first-round bye and he was even handed a walkover into the third round by Michael Llodra. The 17th-ranked Canadian kicked off his Indian Wells campaign on Tuesday with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic. Raonic, who three-peated in San Jose last month, owns a 10-3 record for the season.
Raonic did not play particularly well against Cilic and the courts are not quite as fast as he would prefer. Tsonga, on the other hand, is in stellar form and should get some looks at his opponent’s serve even though the return is by no means the strength of his game.
Pick: Tsonga in 2
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