Fellow Americans Donald Young and Denis Kudla will contest their first-round matches on Friday in Indian Wells. They are set for respective meetings with Pablo Carreno Busta and Nick Kyrgios.
Donald Young vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
Carreno Busta will have to win two matches at the BNP Paribas Open if he wants to have a chance of facing doubles partner Rafael Nadal in the third round. Just winning one will be a tough task with Young on the other side of the net on Friday. Young is a stellar 11-6 this season thanks to consecutive final weekend appearances in Memphis (semis) and Delray Beach (title match). The 47th-ranked American also reached the quarterfinals in Auckland.
The 2015 campaign has not been a productive one thus far for Carreno Busta. Half of his six tournaments have resulted in immediate ousters and the other three saw him lose in the second round. The 55th-ranked Spaniard is coming off a second-set retirement to Federico Delbonis in the Buenos Aires first round. Carreno Busta would probably have an edge on clay, but current form and an American hard court favor Young.
Pick: Young in 3
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Nick Kyrgios vs. (WC) Denis Kudla
At just 19 years old, Kyrgios is already something of a Grand Slam specialist. Twelve of his 16 career ATP-level match victories have come in majors, as he reached the quarterfinals last summer at Wimbledon, the third round of the U.S. Open, and the quarterfinals of the recent Australian Open. The fast-rising Aussie has appeared in just one Masters 1000 event, in which he beat Santiago Giraldo at the 2014 Rogers Cup before getting blasted by Andy Murray.
Whereas Kyrgios has been idle since Melbourne due to a back problem, Kudla has been a relative workhorse. After succumbing to Feliciano Lopez in five sets Down Under, the 22-year-old American went back to the Challenger circuit with little success. He more recently reached the second round in both Memphis (as a qualifier) and Delray Beach. This showdown will be entirely in Kyrgios’ hands; if he is 100 percent and plays well, he will have way too much firepower for Kudla.
Pick: Kyrgios in 2
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