The seeds are coming out to play on Friday, as second-round competition at the BNP Paribas Open gets underway. Among those in action are Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, and Joao Fonseca.
Here are my picks for two of Friday’s best matchups.
(16) Karen Khachanov vs. Joao Fonseca
Fonseca finally seems to be playing with some confidence — and being healthy helps. The 19-year-old won the MGM Slam 10-point tiebreaker exhibition in Las Vegas last weekend — which may not be a big deal, but a win is a win. More importantly, Fonseca got the best of an in-form Raphael Collignon 7-6(2), 6-4 in a high-quality contest during first-round competition in Indian Wells on Wednesday.
Up next for the Brazilian is a second contest against Khachanov, who won their only previous meeting 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 at the Paris Masters this past fall. That was actually a decent effort by Fonseca considering that he was making a quick turnaround after capturing the Basel title. This time the fatigue factor could be with Khachanov. Simply arriving in Indian Wells was in doubt for the Russian, who was temporarily stuck in Dubai amidst the war in the Middle East. Khachanov successfully made it to Tennis Paradise on Wednesday afternoon, but there could be some ill effects.
Pick: Fonseca in 3
(WC) Gael Monfils vs. (9) Felix Auger-Aliassime
Auger-Aliassime and Monfils will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Friday. They have split their two previous matches; Monfils coasted to a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the 2020 Rotterdam final before Auger-Aliassime prevailed 6-4, 6-3 at the 2023 Laver Cup.
Auger-Aliassime has been in stellar form this year, with a 12-4 record that features a title in Montpellier and a runner-up showing in Rotterdam. At 39 years old, Monfils is playing his final season on tour. The 148th-ranked Frenchman is just 2-3 so far this season, although he at least managed to defeat qualifier Alexis Galarneau 6-3, 6-4 in the IW opening round. A much more difficult Canadian will almost certainly mark the end of the road for Monfils at the Indian Wells Masters.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.