Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti aim for the round of 16
Berrettini and Musetti at Indian Wells
Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti are playing for a spot in the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open, the first Masters 1000 of the season scheduled on hard courts at the’Indian Wells Tennis Garden (Laykold – prize money of $8,963,700) along with the WTA 1000 broadcast live on SuperTennis, live and free-to-air.
Berrettini (29 ATP) faces world No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has won his last six matches played. Included in this series is the title he won in Dubai, achieved by beating the Roman himself in the quarters. To this challenge the Italian, a finalist at Wimbledon in 2021, è arrived thanks to a two-set win over Chris O'Connell, his sixth in eleven matches this season on the ATP circuit. In recent weeks he has reached two consecutive quarters in the ATP 500s in Doha, where he also defeated Novak Djokovic, and Dubai. Thanks to these results è returned to the Top 30 for the first time since June 2023.
The balance in direct encounters è largely in favor of the Greek, who has beaten Berrettini on five out of six occasions, at all levels, and in all three direct confrontations on hard court.
Tonight's will be Berrettini's 10th match in Indian Wells (4-5 record), who at best reached the round of 16 here in 2022, when he è was defeated in three sets by Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic. The Italian has a clear goal: to continue chasing a finish at least in the quarters, which in the Masters 1000 on hard courts he hasn't reached since the semifinals in Shanghai in 2019.
Tsitsipas, on the other hand, will be playing his 15th match at the BNP Paribas Open (8-6 record) and is aiming to play his first quarterfinal in California in 2021, and in the long run to win his first title in a Masters 1000 on hard court. Whoever wins will meet Holger Rune or Ugo Humbert in the round of 16.
Also on the court on the Italian night is Lorenzo Musetti (16 ATP) against Frenchman Arthur Fils (21), whom he defeated in the only previous direct confrontation in Monte-Carlo in 2024. The Carrara native has played just seven matches on the ATP circuit so far, with a record of 5 wins and 2 losses, held back by the calf injury that forced him to retire in Buenos Aires, and to miss the Santiago and Acapulco tournaments.
Fils also had to struggle with an injury, to his ankle in his case. Because of this problem he è withdrew when he was down two sets to one against Ugo Humbert at the Australian Open and è returned to the court only in Indian Wells, where he gave up just four games in the opener to Canadian Gabriel Diallo. The winner will play an eighth final for the first time at the BNP Paribas Open.
