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  • Indian Wells Preview: Second Quarter of the Draw

    3/13/08 4:20 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - If there’s one section of the Indian Wells draw that is completely wide open, it’s the second quarter. No Roger Federer. No Rafael Nadal. No Novak Djokovic. But there are plenty of huge talents ready to seize the opportunity and advance to the final weekend of play.

    Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Nikolay Davydenko have been the top four seeds at all the big tournaments in recent memory, and the rest of the players no doubt always want to be in Davydenko’s quarter of the draw. It’s no different this week at the Pacific Life Open, where the second section looks like a complete and utter free-for-all.

    The big three are obviously absent in this part of the draw, but nonetheless some of the most talented guys in the business are bunched together in this quarter. Seventh-seeded David Nalbandian, who won both the Madrid and Paris Masters Series events last fall, looms large at the very bottom of the section. Also looking to crash Davydenko’s party are 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who is borderline unbeatable when his forehand is on target (see 2007 Australian Open), and No. 13 seed Mikhail Youzhny, who reached the quarterfinals Down Under in January. 29th-seeded Radek Stepanek could also do some damage, although he faces a potential third-round encounter with Nalbandian. Stepanek already has two semifinal finishes (Sydney and Memphis) and one runner-up (San Jose) to his credit in 2008.

    This tough second section also features a handful of unseeded players who cannot be discounted. In fact it would not be stunning to see one of them completely blow past all the seeds and progress to the semifinals. Wild card Mario Ancic, who has looked good since returning from injury, opens with an enticing battle against Gael Monfils and assuming the Croat gets through that, he’ll have a blockbuster second-round battle versus Gonzalez. Tennis Channel Open titlist Sam Querrey should keep up his good form by rolling over Luis Horna, at which point he’d collide with No. 24 seed Lleyton Hewitt. Another towering American, 6’9’’ John Isner, will partake in an extreme clash of styles with Davydenko if he can survive Simone Bolelli in round one. Near the bottom of the section lurks Ernests Gulbis, who is like Gonzalez and Marat Safin in that he is one of the most powerful players in the game and can produce other-worldly tennis at times, but at other times looks like he doesn’t even belong on the ATP Tour. The Latvian should be able to power his way past Oscar Hernandez in his opening match, setting up a match with Nalbandian, which would produce some spectacular shot-making if both players are in form.

    The bottom line is that while Davydenko almost never defeats the top players in the game, he makes a living on beating up on lesser opponents. While most of these talented contenders in this section of the draw cannot really be considered “lesser” players compared with the No. 4 seed, none of them are in particularly incredible form at the moment. If Nalbandian suddenly produces the same kind of tennis as he did at the end of last year or if Gonzalez regains his early 2007 momentum, one of them could get past Davydenko and make a long run at Indian Wells. Other than that, all scenarios point to the rock-solid Davydenko making his opposition self-destruct, paving a path to the Pacific Life Open semifinals.

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