Wild card Andy Murray will take on Taro Daniel is his opening-round match at the Indian Wells Masters on Friday afternoon. Up-and-coming American Brandon Nakashima battles French veteran Adrian Mannarino.
(WC) Andy Murray vs. (Q) Taro Daniel
This 2022 season has been hit or miss for Andy Murray. The Scot started off with a run to the final in Sydney, but he was knocked out of the Australian Open in the second round–by none other than Taro Daniel. Strangely, Daniel and Murray have already met twice in 2022, and they clash again on Friday at the BNP Paribas.
Murray has run into top seeds in his last few events; fatigue should not be a factor as it was in Melbourne. Still, the early loses aren’t likely to be good for Murray’s confidence. He managed to win just one game over Roberto Bautista Agut in Doha a few weeks ago.
Daniel’s ranking has dropped from a career high of 64th in the world back in 2018 to No. 106. He is 5-5 in tour-level matches this year. While he has a pair of qualifying matches at the Tennis Garden this week, the crowd is going to be firmly behind Murray. The Scot should be able to pull this one out.
Cheryl pick: Murray in 2
Ricky pick: Murray in 2
Brandon Nakashima vs. Adrian Mannarino
This is a rematch of a competitive second-round encounter a few weeks ago in Delray Beach. French veteran Adrian Mannarino just squeaked out a win–7-5 in the third set–to dispatch Brandon Nakashima. The American, ranked 80th in the world, hasn’t made any deep runs as yet in 2022.
Mannarino had a quite impressive run to the fourth round at the Australian Open this year, where he played one of the best tiebreakers of all time against Rafael Nadal–a 16-14 barnburner of a first-set decider that went the Spaniard’s way…just barely.
Of the two men, Mannarino has played more consistently so far this year. Nakashima will have the support of the American crowd so this may be another match that goes the distance, but in the end Mannarino should advance.
Cheryl pick: Mannarino in 3
Ricky pick: Mannarino in 3
Andy in 3, Adrian in 2 (the vote box for the latter didn’t pop up for me)