Monfils, #NextGenATP In Friday Indian Wells Action
Former World No. 6 Gael Monfils headlines action at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, which also includes the start of doubles play. Three players in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings – No. 4-ranked Grigor Dimitrov, No. 6 Dominic Thiem and No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro – also feature in the doubles competition.
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Monfils v Ebden | Tiafoe v Escobedo | Mayer v Estrella Burgos
[GROUP POLL]104[/GROUP POLL]
Monfils, who is competing after four straight weeks on the clay of the Latin American swing, plays as a non-seed at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the first time since 2008. The Frenchman, winner of this year’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open crown (d. Rublev) and a 2016 quarter-finalist, takes on Australia’s Matthew Ebden – playing in Indian Wells for the first time since 2014 – in the first match on Stadium 1.
In other first-round ties, former World No. 8 Gilles Simon – a two-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finalist at the 2008 and 2014 Rolex Shanghai Masters, meets fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Another former World No. 8 and 2006 quarter-finalist Marcos Baghdatis faces Yoshihito Nishioka, while former No. 12 Viktor Troicki challenges Marton Fucsovics.
Three #NextGenATP players, American Frances Tiafoe – the Delray Beach Open title – Canadian qualifier Felix Auger-Aliassime and Australian wild card Alex de Minaur - are all worth watching on day two.
Ernesto Escobedo has beaten his fellow American Tiafoe in third set tie-breaks in their two 2016 meetings on the ATP Challenger Tour, and recently recorded his first Top 10 win over No. 10-ranked Jack Sock at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. But Tiafoe, 20, is riding on the crest of a wave after lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy in Delray Beach on 25 February.
In the fourth match on Stadium 2, Canadian qualifier and former World No. 25 Vasek Pospisil plays the youngest player in the 96-player field, 17-year-old countryman Augur-Aliassime, who is looking to secure his first main draw match win. The winner will play No. 32 seed and 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic in the second round.
De Minaur, 18, who started the year with a semi-final run at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (l. to Harrison) and reached his first ATP World Tour final the following week at the Sydney International (l. to Medvedev), takes on German Jan-Lennard Struff on Stadium 4.
There are a number of stellar first-round doubles matches. Second seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who reached last year’s quarter-finals open their campaigns, while Del Potro and Dimitrov, John Isner and Jack Sock, and Thiem and Philipp Petzschner compete on the outside courts.
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