The first Masters event of the 2024 season kicks off in Indian Wells with crowd favorite Gael Monfils taking on Max Purcell and veteran Stan Wawrinka battling youngster Tomas Machac.
Gael Monfils vs. Max Purcell
Popular French player Gael Monfils is almost certainly in the twilight of his career, but the world No. 54 still has enough good tennis in him that he made a run to the semifinals in Doha just a few weeks ago. He ran into an inspired Jakub Mensik, but he took a set from the young Czech player. Sadly, he hasn’t played particularly well otherwise. Monfils is 5-6 on the season, with 3 of his 5 season wins coming in Doha.
Max Purcell, the world No. 71 Aussie, hasn’t had the best start to the 2024 season, either. Purcell hasn’t had 2 wins in a row all year, though he played well enough at the Australian Open to push Casper Ruud to 5 tough sets.
This match might end up being competitive. Monfils is in better form and the Frenchman is certainly far more experienced, but Purcell won their only other encounter, a hard fought grass court win in Eastbourne back in 2021.
Cheryl pick – Monfils in 3
Stan Wawrinka vs. Tomas Machac
Three-time Slam champion Stan Wawrinka has had a horrible start to the 2024 season. The Swiss veteran has won one match all year, last month on the clay courts of Buenos Aires. Like Monfils, Wawrinka is 38 years old, and in the twilight of his impressive career. Sadly for the Swiss man, Thursday’s match isn’t likely to be favorable.
Tomas Machac is ranked 63 in the world, but the Czech player has been picking up steam lately. He still has to qualify for some of the events he enters (he came up through qualies in Dubai last week), but he got direct entry into Indian Wells. He took out Frances Tiafoe in the second round of the Australian Open before losing to Karen Khachanov in the third round, and he had wins over Andy Murray and Lorenzo Musetti in Marseille.
With Wawrinka struggling and Machac coming on, this may actually end up being one-sided, even though Wawrinka has traditionally played well at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Cheryl pick – Machac in 2
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