Tuesday
(17) Tommy Robredo vs. (11) Grigor Dimitrov: Dimitrov has been far from his best this season and he struggled with–and got lucky against–Nick Kyrgios in his Indian Wells opener. But can Robredo capitalize? He is a mediocre 3-4 in 2015 and was tested by Andrey Golubev on Sunday. Dimitrov in 3.
(13) Gilles Simon vs. (Q) Michael Berrer: Berrer’s last year on tour has been something out of a dream, but getting to play the German in the third round of a Masters 1000 is a dream draw for Simon. Simon in 2.
Donald Young vs. (3) Rafael Nadal: Young is looking poised to turn in his best, most consistent season as a professional. But he still has not done anything to suggest he can trouble the top players. His only chance of seriously competing vs. Nadal would be on a fast indoor hard court. Nadal in 2.
Robin Haase vs. (27) Lukas Rosol: Haase is 1-2 lifetime against Rosol, but he is 1-0 on hard courts. The Dutchman should be extremely confident after upsetting Stan Wawrinka in round two. Rosol has been mostly hopeless this season but benefited from getting to play Martin Klizan on Sunday. Haase in 3.
Steve Johnson vs. (9) Tomas Berdych: Berdych generally deals with big servers and big hitters extremely well. The Czech will be able to dictate play and exploit the Johnson backhand. Berdych in 2.
(15) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Jack Sock: Sock is making an inspired run, in part for his recovering brother. Two extremely tough matches in his first tournament of the year, though, will be tough to bounce back from physically. Look for a rock-solid Bautista Agut to grind the American down. Bautista Agut in 2.
[polldaddy poll=8730808]
[polldaddy poll=8730811]
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CARODg1WsAA9lER.png
I agree with the picks. Dimitrov did get lucky against Kyrgios. I also heard on the tennis channel that Kyrgios tweeted that he has ligament damage in his ankle, so will be out for four to six weeks.
I picked Young to win 8-10 games. But I think he is going to do a lot better than Sijsling, which really isn’t saying much. Young is playing well right now, but Rafa seems to have sorted out some of his issues, movement was great in his first match, forehand was on fire. I don’t think Young has anywhere near the mental toughness to hang with Rafa.
Agree with the picks.. But what about Federer versus Seppi? As for Nadal, he now looks as bulking muscular as ever and primed for another 2013. Caveat inimicus!
Federer Seppi written about separately
http://41.media.tumblr.com/fb7bbde9bdaf23c62db49886bb71b629/tumblr_mzv9avFtks1s6ocq0o1_500.jpg
Rafa battled into the fourth round! Vamos!!!!
http://www.funutilities.com/files/smileys/07/02/99.gif
On the tennis channel, Mary Carillo said that Rafa complained about the balls in his post match press conference. He said that they are poor quality and he can’t get the feel of them.
I guess this was why he had so much trouble in his match with Young. Rafa was simply not playing like himself. His serving was poor and at one point late in the first set he had one winner to fourteen UE’s!
Lucky for Rafa that Young played even worse than he did. He couldn’t get anything done. I did think that Rafa played better in the second set, but something was clearly wrong. Now I know what was bothering him.
[polldaddy poll=8735389]
So NNY, Rafa played that bad? Sorry did not watch the match..Difficult then to get past Gilles and Raonic, leave Fed.
Why is he so mentally affected by the balls?
How did he go from good in 1st match to bad in this match?
Sanju,
Sorry for the late response. I just got on here now. Yes, Rafa played that bad. He double faulted at least twice in one game. The second double fault gave Young the break. This was in the first set, when the two of them were trading breaks of serve. You could hear the crowd murmur when Rafa was broken yet again with another double fault.
Rafa says he can’t control the balls and that they are sub standard. That’s what Mary Carillo said on the tennis channel during another match. She was reporting Rafa’s comments in his post match press conference.
The good news is that Rafa played better in the second set. He seemed to get the feel for his shots more. As I said, Rafa was extremely fortunate that he was up against an opponent who was dreadful. Young couldn’t do anything.
I also wondered why Rafa didn’t seem to be having problems in his first match. I wondered if it was having to deal with his first day match. They said that in this tournament, the conditions are very different if it’s day or night. They said that the hot weather was making the balls jump.
I have the same questions as you do. I guess when we see him play later today, we will have some answers. I am not looking ahead at this point. He has to get past Simon.
Oh, one other thing. Rafa did say that the windy conditions were also making it difficult. So maybe it was a combination of the wind and the balls.
On VB, they said that Donald Young was also complaining about the balls. They said he was talking to his box about it during the match. I do remember the commentators on the tennis channel saying at one point that Young was shouting about something to his box. I guess now we know what it was.
On VB they are also saying that even Fed is complaining about the balls. So there are other players who are having problems. I don’t know why a tournament like IW would have inferior balls.
I don’t know what it was and it better be balls or windy conditions because Rafa the way he played last night stands no chance against Simon…