Tennis: Defending champions Fritz, Swiatek headline Indian Wells main draw
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Taylor Fritz returns the ball against Tommy Paul during semifinals at the Arena GNP, in Acapulco, Mexico, on March 3, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – American Taylor Fritz will take on either compatriot Ben Shelton or Italian Fabio Fognini as he begins his title defence at Indian Wells this week, with top-ranked Iga Swiatek facing a potential third-round showdown with 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu.
Fritz battled through excruciating pain to end Rafael Nadal’s 20-match winning run and claim his first Masters 1000 championship in 2022, and will hope for another fairy-tale finish after the main draw was announced on Monday.
Facing a depleted men’s field, he could still run into Denmark’s Holger Rune in the quarter-finals. The seventh-seed Rune also won his first Masters title in 2022
Paul Annacone, who is part of Fritz’s coaching team, believes that the 25-year-old has what it takes to go all the way again.
Fritz is ranked a career-best No. 5 in the world and, besides winning the 2022 Indian Wells title, he has also reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, won an ATP 500 event in Tokyo and advanced to the semi-finals of the year-end ATP Finals in Turin.
“He is right at the top of the chart of all the young guys in the ability to manage big moments,” Annacone said in the Los Angeles Times.
“There’s very few that can deal with the mental expectation and the mental pressure, and whoever does that the best will be the one that steps up.”
Red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev, who collected his third straight title in Dubai last weekend, is on a collision course to meet third-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final eight, while Spain’s top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz could face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at the same stage.
World No. 1 Djokovic withdrew from the tournament on Sunday also pulled out.
On the women’s side, Swiatek looks as though she could have little trouble collecting a second straight title in the southern California desert after cruising to victory a year ago amid a blockbuster unbeaten streak.
She could meet WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia in the quarter-finals after beginning her campaign against either American Claire Liu or Belgian Alison van Uytvanck, with Canadian Andreescu also enjoying the first-round bye.
Fresh off her maiden Grand Slam win in Australia, second seed Aryna Sabalenka will face either Alize Cornet or Evgeniya Rodina first up.
She has the chance to exact a little bit of revenge against potential fourth-round foe Barbora Krejcikova, after the 2021 French Open winner ended her 13-match winning streak in Dubai in February. REUTERS
