Andy Murray got a wild card into the Indian Wells Masters and will kick off his campaign against Adrian Mannarino on Friday. First-round action is also wrapping up with a showdown between Emil Ruusuvuori and Dominik Koepfer.
(WC) Andy Murray vs. Adrian Mannarino
Murray and Mannarino will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second time at the BNP Paribas Open when they meet again on Friday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Murray’s way; 6-3, 6-3 at the 2015 Indian Wells Masters and 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 later that year at the U.S. Open.
The former world No. 1’s latest comeback from hip problems has been going relatively well and could see him back in the top 100 by the end of the season. Murray has advanced at least one round in eight of his last nine tournaments and the only exception during this stretch is a five-set loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas at Flushing Meadows. Mannarino is ranked 70 spots ahead of his opponent at 51st, but the Frenchman is just 10-20 for the year and 1-4 in his last five matches. He has not really recovered from suffering a knee injury at Wimbledon while leading Roger Federer two sets to one. Everything about this sets up well for Murray to pick up another victory.
Pick: Murray in 2
Dominik Koepfer vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
Ruusuvuori and Koepfer played doubles together at the French Open and U.S. Open earlier this season, but they will be on the opposite side of the net on Friday. Their only previous meeting came last year on the hard courts of the Canberra Challenger, where Ruusuvuori won 6-3, 6-4.
The 22-year-old Finn is the essence of a hard-court specialist–if there is such a thing. He has been hopeless on clay and grass in the early stages of his career, but success on the hard stuff has been easy to come by. Ruusuvuori reached two semifinals this summer (Atlanta and Winston-Salem) and recently pushed Ilya Ivashka to three sets in the Nur-Sultan quarters. Koepfer reached the third round of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the Olympics but hasn’t done much since. An edge in current form goes to Ruusuvuori and he will enjoy the conditions in Indian Wells.
Pick: Ruusuvuori in 3
Leave a Reply