Taylor Fritz’s BNP Paribas Open title defense is alive and well. Neither Novak Djokovic nor Rafael is in the desert this year to stop him, too, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the road to another winner’s trophy will be easy.
In fact, it could be incredibly difficult. A red-hot Jannik Sinner is up next for Fritz in the quarterfinals, after which the American could run into Carlos Alcaraz in the semis and Daniil Medvedev in the final. Outside of Djokovic and Nadal, that is about as scary as a murderers’ row can get.
Fritz and Sinner will be facing each other for the second time in their careers on Thursday and also for the second time in Indian Wells. They squared off at this same event two years ago, when Fritz prevailed 6-4, 6-3 during fourth-round action on his eventual way to the semifinals.
Fast forward to 2023 and both guys are proven forces near the top of the sport with immediate Masters 1000 title aspirations and even Grand Slam championship hopes. Fritz comes in at No. 5 in the rankings with a 17-4 record for the season, highlighted by a triumph in Delray Beach. That includes wins this fortnight over Ben Shelton, Sebastian Baez, and Marton Fucsovics, with just one set lost to Shelton. Sinner is 15-3 for his 2023 campaign with back-to-back finals in Montpellier (champion) and Rotterdam (runner-up) followed by Indian Wells defeats of Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino, and Stan Wawrinka.
With the way these two guys are playing at the moment, we could be in store for the best match of the entire tournament.
A slight edge may go to Fritz, who absolutely loves this tournament. The California native enjoys a huge home-court advantage and handles the difficult conditions extremely well. He is 18-4 in his last 22 matches in Indian Wells, including the breakthrough title last spring. Fritz has been nothing short of dominant since dropping his first set of the event to Shelton and he should be able to keep the train rolling into the semifinals.
Pick: Fritz in 3
who ya got?
A 50-50 toss up….but maybe Sinner in 3.