Indian Wells Masters Tennis Picks 2024 (Sunday 10th March)

The big names have largely come out firing at the Indian Wells Masters, although we have seen a number of withdrawals before matches have taken place too.

The WTA tournament has lost Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina from the draw, while Milos Raonic withdrew from the ATP event just a day after winning his match and against a Lucky Loser after Rafael Nadal decided to pull of the tournament as he continues his recovery from injury.

For the main part, it is a tournament that moves into a strong looking lineup in the Third Round.

To win a Masters 1000 event, players will know they to deal with the challenges that come and it usually means having to win big matches. The draw has put together a strong schedule on Sunday when the Third Round gers underway with eight matches in both the ATP and WTA Tournaments set to be played.

A disappointing Saturday has just pulled back the numbers from the Indian Wells tournament.

The opening three days of Picks had been productive enough, but that was not the case on a 1-3 day on Saturday and so the pressure is on to bounce back and try and make sure this Indian Wells event with a positive number.

Stefanos Tsitsipas - 3.5 games v Frances Tiafoe: At his best, Frances Tiafoe is capable of beating most players on a hard court, but we have not really seen that from the American in 2024.

Asking Stefanos Tsitsipas to cover this kind of line is not always ideal, especially on the faster surfaces with the return game not as effective as some of the top players on the Tour.

He has lost three of his last four matches against Frances Tiafoe and the last two have both been on the hard courts and after Stefanos Tsitsipas had won the first set.

Overall it has been a strong return to the Tour for Tsitsipas in 2024 and he has been returning with a bit more effectiveness than we have come to expect. Maintaining those levels on this surface will be the challenge for the Greek star, but this may be an opportunity for him to reach the Fourth Round in Indian Wells behind a solid win.

Overlooking Frances Tiafoe would be a mistake, but it has been a tough opening two months for the American and that could show up here.

Andrey Rublev - 3.5 Games v Jiri Lehecka: Strong wins have been a feature of Andrey Rublev's season and even the outburst in Dubai that led to a harsh disqualification will not have dented the confidence.

Beating an in-form Andy Murray will only have added to the belief and Andrey Rublev can get the better of Jiri Lehecka again.

He beat him here in Indian Wells last year, although Jiri Leheckha has produced stronger hard court performances in 2024 than he managed overall in 2023.

The serve is still a big weapon for Lehecka, but he has found a little more out of the return game and that has proven to be a difference maker in turning some results in his favour. Jiri Lehecka will know that his return will be tested by a strong, aggressive server like Andrey Rublev, but it will give him belief that he can turn that loss to Rublev around.

Andrey Rublev will know there is room for improvement in his own return game- he has perhaps not played the Break Points as well as he can, but the opportunities are expected to be created and that could lead to a solid win for the higher Ranked player.

MY PICKS: Stefanos Tsitsipas - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)

Andrey Rublev - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Anna Kalinskaya - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Indian Wells Update: 13-10, + 2.88 Units (46 Units Staked, + 6.26% Yield)