Raonic out of Indian Wells, Del Potro seeded

Milos Raonic pulled out of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday because of a hamstring injury. The oft-injured Canadian’s participation at the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells had been in doubt ever since he withdrew from last month’s Delray Beach title match against Jack Sock.

Raonic finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic last year, so the world No. 5 will fall at least one spot to sixth after the tournament ends.

Raonic’s withdrawal means Juan Martin Del Potro will be seeded in the desert. Del Potro was in line to be the top-ranked unseeded player in the field, and thus would have been forced to play a first-round match on either Thursday or Friday. The Argentine, ranked 35th, now owns the No. 32 seed thanks to the absences of Raonic, David Ferrer, and Gilles Simon.

Dmitry Tursunov will move from qualifying into the main draw thanks to the Raonic development.

In addition to the withdrawals of Raonic, Ferrer, and Simon, Marcos Baghdatis, Nicolas Almagro, Florian Mayer, Steve Darcis, and Paul-Henri are also out. Alternates who have become direct entrants as a result are Tursunov, Renzo Olivo, Kevin Anderson, Guido Pella, Ryan Harrison, Thiago Monteiro, Donald Young, and Konstantin Kravchuk.

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