The remaining second-round matches will be completed on Day 4 at the ATP Indian Wells Masters. A number of star names are set to take to the court and, as ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Matteo Berrettini vs Alejandro Tabilo, Pedro Martinez vs Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Albert Ramos Vinolas. But who will advance?
ATP Indian Wells Day 4 Predictions
Christopher Eubanks vs Nikoloz Basilashvili
Head-to-head: first meeting
I would be looking towards the possibility of tiebreaks in this match. The huge American (6’7)” has the serving statistics you would probably expect with a man of his size, his hold percentage on tour is 84% on hard courts. This dwarfs even Basilashvili‘s respected delivery.
Basiliashvili, in fact, has experienced tiebreaks in six of his last eight matches which also points to a possible problem of struggling to break his opponents, which is exactly the same problem Eubanks has. However, the Georgian has been back to good form this year after a massive struggle in 2020 and he has done well in generally defeating the players that he “should” defeat in his runs to titles and finals. I think he will similarly edge this one.
Prediction: Basilashvili in 3
Aleksandar Vukic vs Alex De Minaur
Head-to-head: first meeting
I’m finding this a very difficult match to call. Two players representing Australia, but in very different runs of form. The more established De Minaur has won only one match since the week before Wimbledon, including a current losing streak of four. Vukic qualified here and defeated Pablo Andujar in the opening round, this off the back of a Challenger semifinal last week as well. However, obviously there is a big ranking gap between the two and that Andujar win represented Vukic’s only top 100 win this year. De Minaur may also raise his game against a fellow countryman so we could see something of a resurgence. Regardless, De Minaur lost to a qualifier outside the top 200 in his last match here in 2019 (Marcos Giron) so I am going to predict something similar to happen here. Vukic to outserve his fellow Aussie and win it.
Prediction: Vukic in 3
John Isner vs Yoshihito Nishioka
Head-to-head: Isner 1-1 Nishioka
Isner is the player having by far the better year of the two but when they met at WImbledon this year it was the Japanese who emerged victorious in a long five set match. Isner obviously has form for long matches, but his serve means he will always have a tendency to have those, with the possibility of tiebreaks a likely scenario. In this case, Nishioka’s tiebreak record is actually slightly better than Isner’s so I expect him to nick one, but the win-loss form is so heavily stacked in Isner’s favor I think he is rightful favorite to progress.
Prediction: Isner in 3
Carlos Alcaraz vs Andy Murray
Head-to-head: Tsitsipas 1-0
Andy Murray hasn’t been ranked inside the Top 100 whilst Carlos Alcaraz has been on the ATP tour circuit. This is an illustration of how young the Spaniard is, but also how much of a struggle it has been for the former World #1 to get back to his best. Murray will need to be somewhere near his best tennis to win this match. He has a recent history of havig very difficult second-round matches at the moment and mainly falling short. We saw what Alcaraz could do at the US Open and I feel that the younger man will be able to dictate and make Murray fun longer and further than he would want.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
