Chung, Federer, Thiem Compete Monday In Indian Wells

After losing his racquets in transit from Acapulco to Indian Wells, Hyeon Chung was not off to the best start in the Californian desert last week. Fortunately, following a Twitter plea to the airline, the 21-year-old South Korean was reunited with the tools to his trade in time for his second BNP Paribas Open campaign.

On Monday, that campaign steps up a notch when the No. 23 seed squares off against experienced Czech 12th seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the fourth round. It will be the third FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter between the pair with Berdych having claimed both prior matches in straight sets.

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Federer vs Krajinovic | Thiem vs Cuevas | Verdasco vs Fritz

Chung is off to a 12-5 start to 2018 and has staked an early claim for a Nitto ATP Finals berth. After his breakout triumph to claim the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan to finish last season, he carried that momentum Down Under in January, when he became the first from his nation to reach a Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open.

It was in Melbourne he took down #NextGenATP German No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 14 seed Novak Djokovic en route before his run came to an end due to foot blisters during his semi-final clash with Roger Federer. In addition to a breakout Australian Open, he has reached the quarter-finals or better in four of five tournaments this year.

Berdych – making his 14th straight appearance in Indian Wells – has made a typically consistent start to the season with quarter-final showings at the Australian Open (l. to Federer) and in Rotterdam (W/O vs. Goffin) before a semi-final defeat to eventual champion Karen Khachanov in Marseille.

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In his first tournament since his return to No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, defending champion Roger Federer will bid to reach the fourth round when he takes on Serbian 25th seed Filip Krajinovic for the first time. After emerging from a stacked quarter that included Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro at last year’s BNP Paribas Open, No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem and No. 7 seed Kevin Anderson are the only two fellow Top 10 opponents left in Federer’s half at the third-round stage in 2018.

The Swiss – who has claimed the Australian Open and ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam – extended his unbeaten run this season to 13 straight matches after levelling his FedEx ATP Head2Head ledger at 1-1 with Argentine Federico Delbonis in the second round. He is assured of retaining the top spot should he reach the semi-finals in Indian Wells and would pull clear of Novak Djokovic’s Indian Wells tally should he claim a record sixth title.

After his thrilling upset of No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco will look to reach the fourth round in Indian Wells for the third time when he meets #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz on Stadium 1. The 39th-ranked Verdasco beat the 20-year-old in their only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Verdasco’s best result this season came on clay, where he reached the final of the Rio Open presented by Claro (l. to Schwartzman), while Fritz’s best tour-level result in 2018 is a Delray Beach Open quarter-final run (l. to Shapovalov). So far this week, Fritz has beaten fellow 20 year olds Reilly Opelka and No. 27 seed Andrey Rublev.

Thiem, one of the hardest-working players on the ATP World Tour, is already off to a 17-3 start on the year that includes the Argentina Open title in Buenos Aires (d. Bedene). He leads No. 30 seed Pablo Cuevas 2-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but all of their meetings have come on clay courts. Their match is scheduled on Stadium 2 from 6 p.m. local time. Cuevas, 4-3 on hard courts in 2018, recorded a straight sets win over #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov and, just like Thiem, is attempting to improve upon a quarter-final run last season.

In the fourth match on Stadium 3, Anderson, with a 12-3 match record in 2018, takes on No. 94-ranked Nicolas Kicker for the first time. The 31-year-old South African picked up his fourth ATP World Tour crown at the New York Open (d. Querrey) and has finished runner-up in Pune (l. to Simon) and at the recent Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (l. to Del Potro). Kicker beat Jiri Vesely in the first round and No. 26 seed Damir Dzumhur in the second round.