Djokovic, Zverev, Tsitsipas v Auger-Aliassime Today At Indian Wells; Wawrinka Prevails

Seeds open play in the men’s draw Saturday at Indian Wells led by the return of Novak Djokovic. The Serb will play his first match since taking the Australian Open six weeks ago as he takes on former American junior standout Bjorn Fratangelo.

Fratangelo took the opening set against Djokovic three years ago when they met in the first round at Indian Wells. Last year, Djokovic lost in this round to Taro Daniel.

Alexander Zverev opens play against the tricky Martin Klizan. Former finalist Milos Raonic collides with California kid Sam Querrey.

Gael Monfils meets Leonardo Mayer and in maybe the most intriguing match on the schedule, the day opens on Stadium 1 with Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on Canadian teen Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Yesterday, as the first round wrapped up, Stan Wawrinka held off Dan Evans in nailbiter, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

“He’s for sure a great player,” said Wawrinka. “Also, this year he’s playing a lot of matches and has a lot of confidence. He’s won a lot of matches. He’s always a tough player to play, for sure. You can see against other players. He always makes it difficult.

“I think he’s mixing it a lot, especially in conditions like today when it’s windy like that. With his slice, he feels the ball really well. He’s mixing his game, serve-and-volleying, sometimes coming in, sometimes not, passing well. It’s always difficult to play against him.”

Chilean 23-year-old Nicolas Jarry blew a 5-3, 40-15 lead in the third but broke Frances Tiafoe again thanks to a double fault on match point for a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 late-night win to snap a 5-match opening round losing streak.

Radu Albot, Jared Donaldson, Adrian Mannarino and Alexei Popyrin were also winners.

Feliciano Lopez also ended Tomas Berdych’s hopes with a two tiebreak win.

SATURDAY INDIAN WELLS SCHEDULE
2nd Rd 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas v (WC) Felix Auger-Aliassime
Followed By
2nd Rd 18 Gael Monfils v Leonardo Mayer
Followed By
2nd Rd 3 Petra Kvitova v Venus Williams
Not Before 6:00 Pm
2nd Rd 1 Novak Djokovic v (Q) Bjorn Fratangelo
Not Before 8:00 Pm
2nd Rd 1 Naomi Osaka v Kristina Mladenovic

STADIUM 2 11:00 Am
2nd Rd Yulia Putintseva v 8 Angelique Kerber
Followed By
2nd Rd v17 Madison Keys v Mona Barthel
Followed By
2nd Rd Philipp Kohlschreiber v 31 Nick Kyrgios
Not Before 6:00 Pm
2nd Rd Ekaterina Alexandrova v 13 Caroline Wozniacki
Not Before 8:00 Pm
2nd Rd Jordan Thompson v 7 Dominic Thiem