Two of the more intriguing fourth-round Indian Wells matchups on Wednesday pit Tomas Berdych against Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin Del Potro against Tommy Haas. Also in action are Gilles Simon and Kevin Anderson.
(6) Tomas Berdych vs. (10) Richard Gasquet
Berdych and Gasquet will be facing each other for the seventh time in their careers when they meet in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday. Gasquet leads the head-to-head series 4-2, having won two in a row. The Frenchman prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 two years ago on the clay courts of Rome before dominating 6-4, 6-2 last summer in Canada. Gasquet has won three of their five hard-court encounters.
Both players are in stellar form to begin their 2013 campaigns. Berdych boasts a 16-4 record for the season following straight-set victories in Indian Wells at the expense of Mischa Zverev and Florian Mayer. The sixth-ranked Czech is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes in Marseille and Rotterdam and he also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Whereas Berdych has twice stumbled at the finish line (albeit against tough competition), Gasquet already has two titles to his credit this year–in Doha and Montpellier. The 10th-ranked Frenchman lost early in both Rotterdam and Marseille, but he appears to be back on track with straight-set wins over Bernard Tomic and Jerzy Janowicz. Gasquet is 17-3 for the season.
With Berdych and Gasquet playing this kind of tennis, it is not unreasonable to expect that this will be the best match of the entire fourth round. The No. 10 seed will benefit from the hard court being on the slower side, but he generally struggles against elite competition while racking up ranking points against opponents whom he is supposed to beat.
Pick: Berdych in 3
(7) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (19) Tommy Haas
Haas and Del Potro will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers when they collide on Wednesday. Del Potro has won all three of their previous encounters–all on hard courts and all in straight sets. They most recently met last summer in Cincinnati, where the Argentine cruised 7-5, 6-2.
Del Potro is certainly the favorite this time around as well. The world No. 7 has improved his 2013 record to 13-3 with Indian Wells wins over Nikolay Davydenko and Bjorn Phau. Haas, the San Jose runner-up, was knocked out of Memphis due to a virus and lost a Delray Beach thriller to an on-fire Ernests Gulbis, but he has kicked it into gear in the desert. The 34-year-old German took care of Pablo Andujar then outlasted Nicolas Almagro in a third-set tiebreaker on Tuesday. Haas is 10-4 for his 2013 campaign.
Count on this one being more competitive than their previous battles, simply because Haas is playing too well for it to be any other way. Nonetheless, a slow hard court is just about an ideal surface for Del Potro. The 2009 U.S. Open champion is healthy and playing well, so he should reach the quarters.
Pick: Del Potro in 3
(13) Gilles Simon vs. Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Simon will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they battle for a place in the quarterfinals. Simon may be a considerable favorite according to ranking and seed, but that certainly belies the reality of the situation. Anderson is an outstanding 12-3 for his 2013 campaign and he would clearly be ranked higher than 37th in the world had it not been for post-Australian Open elbow surgery. Still, the 6’8” South African recovered quickly and so far in Indian Wells he has taken out Victor Hanescu, David Ferrer, and Jarkko Nieminen.
To say Simon has played with fire this fortnight would be an understatement. Following a first-round bye, the 13th-ranked Frenchman stormed back from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Paolo Lorenzi then saw Benoit Paire serve for their match in the second set before Simon pulled out a 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory. Simon is 13-5 for the year, which includes two quarterfinal performances along with a pair of semifinals. The relative slowness of the Indian Wells courts could give Simon a chance in this one, but the No. 13 seed does not appear to be 100 percent physically and Anderson would have a major edge in current form even if Simon was in peak physical condition.
Pick: Anderson in 2
Some great matches today (Wed) at IW…I’m taking both Berdych and Tommy H.