Luca Nardi vs Tommy Paul Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Indian Wells

Prediction published on 12/03/2024, 04:36  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 12/03/2024 at 05:36 in ATP Indian Wells Predictions

Lucky loser Luca Nardi hopes to continue his crazy time in the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament. He takes on the 17th seed Tommy Paul for a place in the quarter finals of this outdoor hard court tournament. The winner will face either ninth seed Casper Ruud or unseeded Gael Monfils in the last eight. Nardi thought his time in this tournament was over when losing to David Goffin in the final qualifying round. He was then reinstated as a lucky loser and suddenly found himself in round two of the main draw. Since then he hasn't looked back with wins over Zhinzen Zhang (in three sets) and then incredibly beating top seed and world number one Novak Djokovic. He won that match in three sets, losing the middle one. The Italian is 123rd in the latest ranking list but this unexpected run to the last 16 has seen him rise to a career high 95th, the first time he's been in the top 100. He'd not beaten a top 200 ranked player befre this week or played in the main draw of an ATP Tour event. He has reached one Challenger Tour final this year.

Tommy Paul has reached the last 16 at Indian Wells for the third time in four years. He’s never made it past this stage though. One outdoor hard court title has been won by Paul this year. His title win came in Dallas and that was followed by getting to the final in Delray Beach. His good form on outdoor hard courts has continued in this tournament. He’s had wins over Alex Michelsen (losing only four games) and on Monday got a good victory over Ugo Humbert, again in straight sets. Paul is 17th in the live rankings and 14th in the Live ATP Race. It's going to be hard for Nardi to cope with what he's just done and we tip Paul to win in straight sets.