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  • Indian Wells First Quarter Preview

    3/14/08 1:17 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    - With top seed and World #1 Roger Federer in sloppy form, can anyone else step up to the plate and knock off Roger?

    This remains to be seen. Last year, Federer lost in the first round here to Guillermo Canas (and did again in Miami), but this year, Canas is far away in the draw. But who else lurks as a potential threat?

    Young Russian Evgeny Korolev lurks as a 3rd round matchup, as well as 25 seed Nicolas Almagro. Almagro is more of a claycourter and won 2 of 3 titles in the South American clay swing in February. However, he has the big serve and powerful forehand to be a threat on a hard court. The Head-to-Head is 5-0, so Federer should have no problem advancing to at least the round of 16.

    Meeting him there could be Ivan Ljubicic, the big serving Croatian who's been in wretched form for quite some time. Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori, 2 young guns might also meet Federer in the round of 16. Janko Tipsarevic should also advance a few rounds as he should handle Robredo easily.

    Federer could fall to Tipsarevic, actually, he could lose to any of the aforementioned players considering his form at the moment, but he should sail into the Quarterfinals.

    Meeting Federer in the quarters might be one of the Andys in Roddick or Murray. Murray just beat Federer in Dubai, and Roddick has been splendid in the last few weeks despite his 1-19030958309458 record against Federer. Also lurking are big serving Ivo Karlovic, the unpredictable but will probably lose first round Marat Safin, Fernando Verdasco, and returning from injury Tommy Haas.

    Federer has many potential pitfalls if his form is any indication, but if he steps it up, making the semis shouldn't be too much of a Herculean effort.

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