Del Potro Opens Play Thursday At Indian Wells, Robson Returns; Fritz v Tiafoe
Tired of the Maria Sharapova doping scandal? Of course you are! Rejoice, Indian Wells starts in full Thursday as the men open up first round play.
Among those in action will be former US Open champion and Indian Wells finalist Juan Martin del Potro who resumes his comeback against American qualifier Tim Smyczek.
The last time del Potro played Indian Wells he reached the finals in 2013 losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets. He also made the semis in 2013 and the quarterfinals on two other occasions.
Another former Top 10er Nicolas Almagro will also be on court. But the story Thursday in the daytime will be the many youngsters around the grounds highlighted by the clash between 18-year-old friends Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe.
“We’re both going after each other. He’s pretty hot right now. I think it’s a really good match and I think we’re going to go after it,” said Tiafoe.
“We practice together almost every day. We know each other’s game pretty well, so there’s no secrets out there,” Tiafoe added. “Hopefully we get to play each other for the next 15 years.”
Hyeon Chung, Borna Coric, Kyle Edmund will also play first round matches.
The women fired up their event today with Vania King, Heather Watson, CoCo Vandeweghe and Dominika Cibulkova winners.
Tomorrow, the women will be led by Christina Mchale who faces Caroline Garcia. And Laura Robson returns to play her first WTA-level event since the US Open. The 22-year-old Brit hasn’t won a main draw WTA match in almost two and a half years since 2013 Beijing. She takes on Magdalena Rybarikova.
THURSDAY INDIAN WELLS SCHEDULE
STADIUM 1 start 11:00 am
ATP – B. Coric (CRO) vs L. Pouille (FRA)
WTA – C. Garcia (FRA) vs C. Mchale (USA)
ATP – [WC] F. Tiafoe (USA) vs [WC] T. Fritz (USA)
Not Before 8:30 pm
ATP – Qualifier vs [WC] J. Del Potro (ARG)
STADIUM 2 start 11:00 am
ATP – N. Almagro (ESP) vs I. Cervantes (ESP)
ATP – K. Edmund (GBR) vs G. Pella (ARG)
WTA – B. Mattek-Sands (USA) vs A. Beck (GER)
WTA – [WC] A. Kerber (GER) / A. Petkovic (GER) vs [2] H. Chan (TPE) / Y. Chan (TPE)
ATP – H. Chung (KOR) vs A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)
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