Jannik Sinner will battle Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka for a spot in the Indian Wells quarterfinals on Tuesday. In-form Russian Andrey Rublev will also be in fourth-round action, as he faces a similarly confident Cameron Norrie.
(11) Jannik Sinner vs. (PR) Stan Wawrinka
Jannik Sinner is no stranger to his fourth-round opponent, Stan Wawrinka. The two men have met on four occasions, and while they split wins at two apiece, Sinner won their two most recent encounters. Worse news for Wawrinka is that their last meeting was just a few weeks ago in Rotterdam, where Sinner gave the Swiss veteran a 6-1, 6-3 shellacking.
Tuesday’s meeting should be much closer. There is almost no similarity between the lighting-fast courts in Rotterdam and the plodding and gritty surface in Indian Wells. Further, Wawrinka is playing better tennis in Indian Wells than he has all season. The world No. 100 outlasted No. 8 seed Holger Rune in a wild third-round match on Monday that ended with Rune bizarrely asking Wawrinka at the net, “You’ve got nothing to say now?”–to which Wawrinka retorted with confusion, “What do you want me to say?”
It was a reference to their previous match at the Paris Masters at the end of the last year, when Wawrinka allegedly told the Dane to stop acting like a baby. It was an odd reaction, though, since Rune lost on Monday and any “saying something” at the net would have been tantamount to taunting.
There will be no such drama with Sinner in the round of 16. The Italian will be favored even with Wawrinka finding some of the magic that saw him to three Grand Slam titles. Sinner earned his spot in the fourth round with straight-set wins over Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino. Furthermore, Sinner is simply a gracious opponent. Expect Wawinka to put in a good show, but the favorite should make his way through to the quarters.
Cheryl pick: Sinner in 3
Ricky pick: Sinner in 2
(6) Andrey Rublev vs. (10) Cameron Norrie
Another solid Tuesday match is the fourth-round showdown between red-hot Russian Andrey Rublev and Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The two men have met on three other occasions and Rublev holds a scant 2-1 head-to-head edge. Rublev comes into Tuesday’s round of 16 match off an impressive run to the final in Dubai. He took a beating from friend and countryman Daniil Medvedev in the title match, but he had an impressive tournament regardless.
Norrie similarly came into Indian Wells in excellent form. He did one better than Rublev in his last tournament; he won the title in Rio de Janeiro back in February over top seed Carlos Alcaraz. Norrie’s path to the fourth round in Indian Wells hasn’t been tidy. The Brit was pushed to the brink in three tight sets by Japan’s Taro Daniel in the third round.
Rublev is probably going to have the advantage in this one. He is playing well at the moment and he is handling the slow court speed nicely. Norrie looked a bit off in his match against Daniel and Rublev is simply too good and too experienced to let him off the hook like Daniel did.
Cheryl pick: Rublev in 2
Ricky pick: Rublev in 2
WWW?
Sinner in 2. Sorry, Stan.
Rublev in 3 . . . although I think this one is a coin flip.
You’re probably right; Sinner will be dialed in.
Wawrinka looks to be quite fit now, so hard to imagine he wont turn up for this.
You gotta be kidding, the man is fat, well overweight. It’s obvious just by watching him on television, not to mention that I watched him at AO against Alex Molcan, sitting few meters away from him…and I was cheering Alex, one of handful fans cheering Slovakian.
Sinner in 2; Rublev in 2.
It’s not often Cam Norrie loses 2-0.