Alexander Zverev continues his Indian Wells title bid against Jan-Lennard Struff, while Felix Auger-Aliassime takes on Yoshihito Nishioka. Auger-Aliassime ousted Stefanos Tsitsipas in round two, while Nishioka defeated Roberto Bautista-Agut.
(3) Alexander Zverev vs. Jan-Lennard StruffÂ
Jan-Lennard Struff has proven to be a favorable matchup for world No. 3 Alexander Zverev. This will be the fifth meeting since 2016 for the two Germans; Zverev holds a definitive 4-0 record in the head-to-head series. Although all of their previous matches came on clay, it is unlikely that Struff is enjoying the kind of form that might change the momentum in his direction.
Struff is ranked 55th in the world and his results this year reflect the mixed bag one might expect from a player ranked in the mid-50s. He produced a good result in Auckland, where he lost in the semis to Cameron Norrie. He went on to crash out of the Australian Open in the first round and he recently lost in the qualies in Rotterdam to Ryan Nijboer, a Dutch player ranked outside the top 500.
Zverev, who has been the clear standout of the NextGen players, is title-less so far in 2019–but he got close last week in Acapulco, where the world No. 3 ran into a red-hot Nick Kyrgios in the final.
Cheryl pick: Zverev in 2
Ricky pick: Zverev in 2
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Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
This will be the first meeting between Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime and Yoshihito Nishioka. Japan’s Nishioka was just working his way into form in 2017, when he suffered a horrific ACL injury in Miami. He lost the rest of the 2017 season and had to work to regain his form since last year. He sits at No. 74 in the world.
Auger-Aliassime is just 18 years old. He had his first big breakthrough a few weeks ago in Rio, where he came out of nowhere to make the final. He ultimately lost to Laslo Djere, but the result seemed to give him an important boost in confidence.
The biggest win of his young career came in the last round, with his first ever top-10 win over fellow NextGen star Stefanos Tsitsipas. And he not only defeated a top-10 player, he played brilliantly to do so. He was able to bully Tsitsipas around the court with his strong baseline play. He should be able to carry that momentum into the fourth round.
Cheryl pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
Ricky pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
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WWW?
Zverev and FAA both in two.
Aliassime looks to finally be fulfilling his potential at last and looks to be a handful. However I feel he has played quite a few games in the last couple of weeks to be considered a dead cert. Nishioka’s price is somewhat suspect. An indication that his chances are live and realistic. Nishioka is a really good player especially on this slow surface. I have seen Nishioka play a few times to know that he is quite a big talent in his own right. I will take Nishioka to come out on top by some heroics in the end
“finally fulfilling his potential at last?!?” The kid is 18, cut him a little slack already!
@Ramara what are you talking about? What was wrong with what I said? Finally fulfilling his potential at last definately has a story to it that you know nothing about. Three years ago at queens when Shapovalov was interviewed and asked about how he is making giant strides in tennis. He said that he was still way short of the work standards need. He said he looked up to his friend Aliassime as his role model and model of perfection. He said Aliassime was destined for greatness and he wishes he could be like him. I have be waiting since then.
Ok. Leo Borg (son of Bjorn) is 15 now and showing great promise. Wait for HIM to fulfill his potential. 🙂 It’ll be awhile yet tho, I think the days of 17 yo’s winning majors are past.
who?
Props to Jite for a heck of an accurate call on this match.
Zv in 2; AA in 3.
Looks like FAA may have to wait some more. It’ll be interesting to compare his progress vs Shapo’s; Shapo at 18 had reached no. 45 (his best ranking) and no.24 when he’s 19. It looks like Shapo’s ranking has stagnated in the 20s, doesn’t look like it’s moving up into TOP 15 anytime soon. Let’s see how FAA fares going forward.
Tsitispas at two weeks before turning 20yo was ranked as high as 27, and then he reached no.15 just before turning 20, and now at 20 he’s ranked as high as no.10.
Sasha Zverev at 18yo was ranked as high as no.52, not unlike FAA and Shapo, and he’s ranked as high as no.18 when he’s 19 yo and no. 18 before turning 20yo. His highest ranking since then is no.3.
Let’s see how FAA and Shapo match up to Sasha and Tsitispas when they’re at 20/21. Who knows, we may have a new big four in time to come, though I doubt they can match the original big four in their achievements and glory.
I may have gone too far ahead but it’s interesting and no harm spectulating about their future.
After watching Shapo take out Cilic today, I think it won’t be long before he’s in the top 10 or higher. He seems to have filled out a bit. He’s hitting 130 mph serves with ease, and was blasting the ball from both sides. He also has the lefty’s advantage. I still put him first in terms of young players with potential, unless we’re still counting Kyrgios in that category.
Both Shapo and FAA hit really hard, I doubt they could play that way when they get older. I hope they don’t get injuries playing like that.
I still think Tsitispas has the best potential in the long run, he plays a style (not unlike Fed’s) that’s smooth flowing and he moves well like Fed; I think he will be the one least affected by injuries.
Among the big four, both Fed and Djoko move effortlessly (probably they’re not as muscular as Rafa and Murray). Rafa (btw, Shapo is like Rafa, ie with muscular legs and explosive movements), if not for his congenital foot issue, won’t be so injury plagued imo, as he’s physically strong enough and is built to run. Murray was tall and lanky from young but chose to build up muscles, he’s quick with his footwork too but got his injury issues I feel, due to putting on too much muscles on his orginally lanky body.
The youngsters nowadays are hitting so hard, I think putting a lot of strain on their bodies, maybe that’s why players like Rublev, Coric, Chung are getting the injuries when they’ve not even played that much in the main tour. I think Khachanov and now Sasha also have some injury issues (though minor ones I think).
Oh, and Cilic lost so Tsitispas gets to keep his no.10 ranking; at least Tsitisipas doesn’t drop out of top ten after entering it for one week only.
Shocking loss for Sascha.
Sasha said that he’s sick, down with some virus infection.
Struff d Zverev ,upset of the week
But I cant see him beat Raonic here like he did recently
Not even close to u of the w! That honor goes to Kohlschreiber for now. And it’s only the 3rd round!