The Indian Wells Masters 1000 Thread

by temporary21 Mon Mar 09, 2015 1:11 pm

Figured that masters 1000 events deserve their own threads and as such here is your place for all things Indian Wells.

by biugo Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:05 pm

James Ward plays Mitchell Krueger (291) in the qualifications (tonight it seems?)

Federer won it 4 times (05, 06, 07, 12), so Djoko (08, 11, 14) or Nadal (07, 09, 13) could catch up with him.

Since 2004, Ljubicic has been the only winner outside the Big 3 (2010) - it should give ideas to underdogs, and also considering only 4 times the final has been Big Four v Big Four (3 times for Big 3). So a "surprise" finalist is very common here

by Jahu Wed Mar 11, 2015 4:14 am

So, Djoko-Andy one half, Fed-Nadal the other half.

It's a setup I tell you, people wanna see Djoko-Fed Final again, as those are best matches anyway Smile

by HM Murdock Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:45 am

I have a feeling that Andy will win either IW or Miami.

He's played some good tennis this year and I think it's only a matter of time before he strings enough good performances together for a big title.

by Jahu Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:56 am

Andy is busy getting Jonas Bjorkman as assistant coach, his head ain't on the court.

by Born Slippy Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:30 am

Plus his wedding and his general approach to any events which aren't slams. Quarters at best for Andy I suspect. Novak should clean up at these events.

by Born Slippy Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:31 am

Jonas would be a good guy for Andy to get on board.

by Jahu Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:39 am

But Jonas will be under Mauresmo, let's see how much can he take of her.

by HM Murdock Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:46 am

Born Slippy wrote:Plus his wedding and his general approach to any events which aren't slams. Quarters at best for Andy I suspect. Novak should clean up at these events.

I'm expecting both to do well.

I don't think Novak will defend both titles but I expect he'll be at the business end of both tournaments. Mainly I'd like to see some consistently good tennis from him though. He's been good-but-not-great so far this year. Tough to be beat but not a fluent winner.

by biugo Wed Mar 11, 2015 11:48 am

And to look a bit deeper, we have:
Djokovic - Ferrer (Cilic)
Murray - Nishikori
Nadal - Raonic (Dimitrov)
Federer - Wawrinka (Berdych)

This draw seems more gentle on the top half... A Swiss QF would be interesting.

by Silver Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:31 pm

If the chasing pack is going to start doing something, they'd better start doing it soon.

Novak is #1 by a landslide and looks very dominant against almost everyone. Federer is nowhere near him, but is the clear #2 and continues to play well. These two are currently miles ahead of everyone else.

There's room for someone to take things by the scruff of the neck and try to make inroads into those two, and IW would be a good starting point. Time for a big run from someone? It's going to be a fascinating tournament for Nadal and Murray.

by Belovedluckyboy Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:33 am

Another way to look at it, both Fed and Novak have plenty of points to defend. Player like Rafa will have his chances to catch up come second half of the season when he has almost no point to defend. Murray too could get some points from clay to USO where he didn't do particularly well last year.

by Guest82 Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:56 am

Big few months for Rafa. He needs to start getting some results between now and the French.

Think Murray will be fine. I suspect he will always struggle to find the consistency he showed earlier in his career, but is probably still 4th best player in the world.

by temporary21 Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:27 am

I dont expect too much from Rafa, an early shock and a semi is what I'm feeling. He looks like hes transitioning into a later stage of his career, where hell play more clay tournaments and focus only on big hc tournies, which will lead to weaker results on it outside of the Aus and Us.

by Belovedluckyboy Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:44 am

I don't think Rafa is at that stage yet. Also, if he wants to do well at Hc slams, he needs matches on the HCs, so I don't think he wants to lose early at the Hc Masters. He's unlike Fed and Novak where HCs are their forte; he needs match plays to feel confident playing on them.

by Belovedluckyboy Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:57 am

I do feel Rafa will do better on clay than his 2014, he doesn't have any physical issue now (his words). I watched his BA matches, he played better than Rio 2013 and 2014. The win at BA would certainly help with his confidence on clay the year.

Looking at his draw at IW, it's a good one for Rafa; the high bouncing surface suits his game,so I think he'll do well at IW. We'll see how the Miami draw pends out....

by Belovedluckyboy Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:32 am

Make a mistake, should be Rio 2014 & 2015 instead.

by invisiblecoolers Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:03 am

biugo wrote:And to look a bit deeper, we have:
Djokovic - Ferrer (Cilic)
Murray - Nishikori
Nadal - Raonic (Dimitrov)
Federer - Wawrinka (Berdych)

This draw seems more gentle on the top half... A Swiss QF would be interesting.

The draw looksvery gentle on Nadal with only Raonic to contend with, whom he will dispatch in no time, looks more like a Djoko win again.

by Guest82 Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:02 am

Belovedluckyboy wrote:I do feel Rafa will do better on clay than his 2014, he doesn't have any physical issue now (his words). I watched his BA matches, he played better than Rio 2013 and 2014. The win at BA would certainly help with his confidence on clay the year.

Looking at his draw at IW, it's a good one for Rafa; the high bouncing surface suits his game,so I think he'll do well at IW. We'll see how the Miami draw pends out....

He lost to Fognini and was struggling with Berloq etc during the clay swing. I expect by the time we hit the European Clay swing he will have improved a lot.

Can never write him off.

by Belovedluckyboy Fri Mar 13, 2015 1:11 pm

Don't thnk he's struggling against Berlocq when he could win in straight sets. He dismantled Delbonis in another match and had not lost a set at BA. Like I said, he was playing better at BA than Rio 2014 and 2015. He was really struggling against Andujar at Rio last year, facing MP. I expect him to do better at MC this year than last year.

by **laverfan** Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:18 pm

Schwartzman takes out JJ. Very competitive match.

by **laverfan** Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:25 pm

Hansecu takes out Youzhny. The Colonel is getting old. Crying or Very sad

by **laverfan** Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:23 pm

9 SPs wasted by Brown. Doh

Not a single good return, including several second serves.

by **laverfan** Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:51 am

@SoCal... Are you at IW?

by CaledonianCraig Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:55 pm

Murray through in straight sets beating Pospisil 6-1 6-3. Workmanlike.

by summerblues Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:29 pm

Very quiet here.

by Silver Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:19 am

laverfan wrote:Schwartzman takes out JJ. Very competitive match.

Score one for the little guys, LF. He was the top dog on the Challengers last year, good to see him at more main tour events now.

Shame he lost today but he put up a good fight.

Stan and Cilic out already - Cilic still coming back from injury, Stan's loss to Haase was bad. He could find himself slipping outside the top 10 after Wimbledon unless he picks it up.

by Born Slippy Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:30 am

Dimitrov very lucky to get past Nick K. Outplayed for most of the match. Needs to take advantage and get some decent points this week.

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:40 am

Silver wrote:
Stan and Cilic out already - Cilic still coming back from injury, Stan's loss to Haase was bad. He could find himself slipping outside the top 10 after Wimbledon unless he picks it up.

Wawrinka played a very strange third set. He had Bps at 3-3 and got broken.

by CAS Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:53 am

Wawrinka is too hot and cold, he is either unbelievably good or painful to watch!

by CaledonianCraig Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:01 am

Credit to Haase though as I thought he played very well.

On another note should Murray do very well here in Indian Wells and win the title I do believe he will surpass Henman's career wins total and be on the verge of 500 career wins.

by sirfredperry Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:59 am

CaledonianCraig wrote:Credit to Haase though as I thought he played very well.

On another note should Murray do very well here in Indian Wells and win the title I do believe he will surpass Henman's career wins total and be on the verge of 500 career wins.

I was always disappointed that Henman didn't quite manage to reach the 500 mark, which is a fair old haul. Fed's 1,000th win earlier this year sparked some debate whether anyone would do bring up the grand. As it is, Rafa, Djoko and Murray should still all finish with very respectable totals.

by CaledonianCraig Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:57 pm

Murray off to a good start in his 3rd Round match against Kohlschreiber as he leads 4-1. However, I can't help sitting here thinking he'll then put in a stinker of a performance and bomb out before the business end of the tournament. That has been a worrying pattern of late.

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:36 pm

Murray recovered from the second set nicely, and could have bagelled Kohlschreiber.

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:37 pm

Verdasco is playing a strange one too, down 5-1 to Nishikori. Avoids the bagel.

by CaledonianCraig Mon Mar 16, 2015 6:09 pm

laverfan wrote:Murray recovered from the second set nicely, and could have bagelled Kohlschreiber.

But again that customary lapse was there. Like I said I can see Murray bombing out before the semis.

by temporary21 Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:59 pm

Well he has Mannarino next who is an easy r16 opponent. Nishikori on the other hand is another prospect

by Born Slippy Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:27 pm

Kei looked really good in sets 2 and 3 today, although he nearly let Nando back into it when he served for the match. Will be a cracking QF if both he and Murray get there (also for the number 4 ranking).

Isner through with relative ease against Kev A. These courts tend to suit him. Monaco having a tough fight with Kokkinakis currently.

by temporary21 Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:06 pm

Kokkinakis and Monaco is a great match, attack vs defense. Kokkinakis has had one match point serving for it, Monaco pushed it wide but no call and no challenges left... Monaco now 6-5 up in the third

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:14 pm

I want Kokkinakis to win after the Lahyani faux-pas.

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:17 pm

4-2 for K. Nice drop volley.

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:23 pm

Monaco dumps FH in the net. K wins. The Indian Wells Masters 1000 Thread 3845856932

Poor boy [K] is out of energy.

by temporary21 Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:30 pm

Yeah that not up wasnt even close. You could see it in real time

by **laverfan** Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:27 pm

Tomic takes out Ferrer in straight sets. Ferrer is beginning to show his age, as was Verdasco v Nishikori.

by Jahu Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:01 am

Tomić kicking some serious butt, guess he got over his mad father.

by LuvSports! Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:03 am

Really LF? I mean he's won 3 tournies this year.

by Jahu Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:06 am

Raonic-Dolgo, I want Dolgo to win this time, kind of been long time since he has gone deep into tournaments, time to move it up boy.

by Born Slippy Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:07 am

Ferrer (by his standards) has a poor record in IW. Wouldn't read much into him going out early.

by HM Murdock Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:21 am

Classic Novak so far this tournament.

A very good performance in the first round was followed up by a much patchier performance last night. We even saw that classic Djoko signature move, the loss of serve when serving for a set.

Much of this can be attributed to Ramos-Vinolas though, who I thought played well.

Isner up next. I wouldn't be hugely surprised at an upset. Big John usually gets under Novak's skin with his serve, so anything less than Novak's best and he could be in for a frustrating match.

by Mad for Chelsea Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:32 am

this surface should suit Isner. It's very bouncy so his serve will really kick up high, which will make things difficult even for such a great returner as Novak. It's also quite slow which should give him time to run around his backhand and bring his much more dangerous forehand into play. Novak needs to think about the BHDL to keep him honest.

Should be a good test for Novak in any case.

Murray's match was a little bizarre. He played really well in sets 1 and 3, while Kohlschreiber wasn't too hot. Kohlschreiber found a really high level in set 2, while Murray played pretty well in the first half, but then dipped a bit. It wasn't like "bad bad Murray" (the one who threw in over 50 UEs against Coric), and would probably have been good enough against a lesser opponent, but it was a fair bit less good than sets 1 and 3.

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