Rafael Nadal will continue his Indian Wells campaign on Wednesday against a red-hot Alexander Zverev. Richard Gasquet and Marin Cilic are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(4) Rafael Nadal vs. Alexander Zverev
Nadal and Zverev will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they clash in round four of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday afternoon. It has already been a stellar tournament for Zverev, and even by Nadal’s recent standards it has been relatively productive. Zverev booked his spot in the last 16 by taking out Ivan Dodig, Grigor Dimitrov, and Gilles Simon. The 18-year-old German came back from a set and a break down against Dodig, recovered from a break deficit against Dimitrov in the third set, and then clobbered Simon 6-2, 6-2. Nadal battled past Gilles Muller 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 before avenging his Australian Open defeat at the hands of Fernando Verdasco with a 6-0, 7-6(9) victory.
The fifth-ranked Spaniard is coming off consecutive setbacks on the Golden Swing–to Dominic Thiem in the Buenos Aires semifinals and to Pablo Cuevas in the Rio de Janeiro semis. Although he is in fine form for the most part, Zverev also needed a strong performance in Indian Wells to erase the taste of defeat. He lost a pair of Davis Cup rubbers to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol, the latter in a decisive fifth showdown. Zverev has the exact kind of game that can seriously trouble Nadal, with a huge serve and forehand to go along with a solid two-handed backhand. He also moves extremely well for a man of his size (6’6”). If the world No. 58 can avoid long rallies and shorten the match, he may be able to hit Nadal off the court before stamina becomes an issue.
Pick: Zverev in 2
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(8) Richard Gasquet vs. (10) Marin Cilic
Gasquet’s season got off to a late start because of a back injury, but he is making up for lost time heading into a fourth-round contest against Cilic in Indian Wells. Gasquet, who missed the Australian summer, captured a title in the first tournament of his year (Montpellier) before getting stopped by an on-fire Nick Kyrgios in the Marseille quarterfinals. So far in the desert he he has taken out Nicolas Mahut in straight sets and Alexandr Dolgopolov via a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision.
Up next for the 10th-ranked Frenchman is a third career meeting with Cilic. Gasquet has taken both of their previous encounters, each at the Masters 1000 level. He prevailed 7-5, 6-4 on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo in 2013 and 7-5, 6-3 last summer in Cincinnati. Cilic has endured physical problems of his own in recent times, but lackluster results in 2016 can only be attributed to poor play. The 10th-seeded Croat brought a disappointing 9-7 record with him into Indian Wells but it now stands at 11-7 following straight-set defeats of Ryan Harrison and Leonardo Mayer. Based on current form, Gasquet should have a relatively clear edge in this one.
Pick: Gasquet in 2
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Got to give Zev full credit for regrouping and getting an early break. Pay attention Rafa please.
It was a mental error on the deuce point…He just floated a backhand to zverev’s forehand without realizing that the German is going after his forehands a lot more now…. Zverev playing better now
Rafa is broken again. This is frustrating to watch.
Rafa has a weird way of hitting running backhands since 2013..he transfers most of the weight to his right leg (quite unorthodox) and sometimes ends up slightly out of balance…must get good length or the advantage gets lost.
Anyway, credit to Zverev for turning this around. perhaps the 6-0 worked to his advantage a little bit…. Rafa hasn’t responded that well so far
Nadal thinks he made a statement in second set winning 6:0.
Zverev is totaly not concerned, he really believes he is better player.
Extra pace on the Zverev groundstrokes this set..
The aura is no longer there so the opponent is playing freely
As good a forehand DTL winner as there can be…
4-2
Please Zverev, falter..
Please Rafa, keep it up!
Zverev listening!!
vamossssssssssssssssssssssssssss
How can he miss that backhand!!!!!
looks this this is over…. how on earth did that backhand CC not find the court
I cant bear to watch any longer.
Rafa puts himself at a big disadvantage by dropping his serve so often. If he fixes that, he’ll be OK.
I cannot remember a time when I saw a great player just go out and continue to lose the same way over and over.
It’s like watching the same match on a loop. Rafa should have won the first set TB. He just gave it away. Now he is letting this third set get away from him.
It never gets easier.
two amazing points….pleaseeee no big serves
that was TIGHT from Zverev! nerves !
he found enough angle on the return ! BP!!! COME ON!
Rafa’s brilliance to win two points to make it 30-30, Zverev’s nerves to gift rafa a couple of points and finally rafa’s attitude to just not go away!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Hope Rafa does not pull an anticlimax and gets broken now!! Vaamoss
impressive hold…. he will win ..strong feeling
don’t want to think too far ahead but how big a boost this win would be for rafa if he is able to find a way here!