By Chris Oddo | Tuesday March 8, 2016
Novak Djokovic will bid for his third consecutive title at this year's BNP Paribas Open. We preview the draw here.
Photo Source: Chris Levy
While the men’s and women’s qualifying was playing out on a beautiful day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the men’s singles draw took place in front of a few hundred lounging fans on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open.
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Men’s singles main draw action will begin Thursday, but the seeds won’t be in action until Saturday on the men’s side, after their first-round byes.
World No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic (41-6, four titles) will open with either Teymuraz Gabashvili or Denis Istomin in the second round, and he could face 27th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. Two of the hottest players on the tour in February—Roberto Bautista Agut and Dominic Thiem—are also in Djokovic’s quarter of the draw.
Bautista Agut has already won titles in Auckland and Sofia this year, while Thiem has taken titles in Buenos Aires and Acapulco.
Djokovic is bidding to become just the second man to win three consecutive titles at Indian Wells (Federer, 2004-2006).
If the seeds hold, Djokovic would face either fourth-seeded Rafael Nadal (44-8, three titles) or fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori in the semifinals. Three-time champion Nadal fell in the quarterfinals last year to Milos Raonic and has not won the event since 2013. Nishikori has never reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells and holds a sub-par lifetime record of 4-7 at the event.
Nadal could face either Gilles Muller or Victor Estrella Burgos in the second round after his bye, then could face 25th-seeded Martin Klizan in the third round and 16th-seeded Gilles Simon in the round of 16 of the seeds hold.
Nishikori could face American Steve Johnson in the third round and 9th-seeded John Isner in the round of 16 if the seeds hold.
In the lower half of the draw, second-seeded Andy Murray (24-10, one final) is slated to face Joao Sousa in the third round and either 13th-seeded Gael Monfils or 24th-seeded Nick Kyrgios in the round of 16 of the seeds hold.
Murray would face 6th-seeded Tomas Berdych (18-11, semifinal in 2013) in the quarterfinals.
In one of the more exciting encounters, Berdych could end up facing Juan Martin del Potro in the second round. The Argentine, with just one tour-level event under his belt (Delray Beach, semifinals), opens his tournament with a qualifier.
Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka would face 8th-seeded Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals if the seeds held, with the winner facing Murray or Berdych in the semis.
2009 runner-up Murray reached the semis here last season before being knocked out by Djokovic in straight sets.
Wawrinka has never been past the quarterfinals at Indian Wells (2008, 2011) and owns a 15-8 career record at the event.
Only one male other than Djokovic (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015), Federer (2004, 2005, 2006, 2012) Or Nadal (2007, 2009, 2013) has won every edition of this event except for 2010, when Ivan Ljubicic took the title.
Canada’s 12th-seeded Milos Raonic, a semifinalist last year, will play his first tennis since the Australian Open, where he reached the semis. He’ll open with either Inigo Cervantes or Nicolas Almagro in the second round and could face Bernard Tomic in the third round.