Robredo, Troicki Feature At Indian Wells Thursday

Twelve-time ATP World Tour titlist Tommy Robredo makes his return to the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday in his first match at Indian Wells in two years. Having undergone right elbow surgery last season, the former World No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings arrives in the desert on a protected ranking and will meet #NextGen ATP Russian Karen Khachanov first up on Day 1.

The pair has never met and will open play on Stadium 1, with Robredo looking to overturn an age gap of 14 years to deny the World No. 52. The Spaniard reached the quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in 2010 and 2011.

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#NextGen ATP Americans Frances Tiafoe and Bjorn Fratangelo also begin their 2017 BNP Paribas Open campaigns on Thursday. Tiafoe arrives off a first-round defeat at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco where he extended Juan Martin del Potro to a deciding-set tie-break. He opens against Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic. In the second round last year, Tiafoe held two match points before falling to eventual semi-finalist David Goffin.

Fellow wild card Fratangelo starts against World No. 42 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Bernard Tomic. Last year, Fratangelo extended then-No. 1 Novak Djokovic to three sets in the second round before the Serb went on to clinch the title.

Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov has tasted success in the desert before when he upset then-No. 1 Rafael Nadal en route to the 2014 BNP Paribas Open semi-finals. The 28 year old captured his first ATP World Tour title since 2012 in Buenos Aires two weeks ago and faces a tricky opener against World No. 39 Viktor Troicki. The Serbian leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

TALKING POINTS

• Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer have won 12 of the last 13 BNP Paribas Open titles. In 2017, however, only one of the former champions could reach the semi-finals after being selected in the same quarter of an ATP draw for the first time ever. Also in the bottom quarter are Nick Kyrgios and del Potro, who both have wins over Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.

• Djokovic enters the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season with five titles and a 17-match winning streak at Indian Wells. He could meet del Potro in the third round on Tuesday, only 13 days removed from their second-round match at Acapulco. Djokovic avenged losses to del Potro in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics by beating the Argentine in three sets at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

• Nadal is a three-time singles and two-time doubles champion at Indian Wells, and he’s playing both events again this year. The Spaniard will team up with Tomic for the first time. Nadal has already reached singles finals at the Australian Open and Acapulco in 2017. However, the lefty has played six finals and 30 events on hard courts since his last title on the surface at 2014 Doha.

• Federer, a four-time BNP Paribas Open champion, returns to Indian Wells after missing the 2016 event. The Swiss recovered from his knee injury and knocked off Nadal at the Australian Open to became the oldest Grand Slam champion (35) since Ken Rosewall at the 1972 Australian Open and the lowest-ranked major champion (No. 17) since Gaston Gaudio at 2004 Roland Garros.

• Nadal and Federer could meet again in the fourth round on Wednesday, which would be the earliest match in their rivalry since their first encounter in the 2004 Miami third round. The winner may meet Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Nadal’s last meeting with Djokovic was in the 2016 Rome quarter-finals, while Federer has not played the World No. 2 that early since the 2007 Dubai quarter-finals.

• World No. 1 Andy Murray is one of two former finalists in the top half of the draw along with No. 20 seed John Isner. Murray is missing only Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo from his collection of 14 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Now 2,215 points ahead of Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Murray has captured 10 titles in 14 finals from the 16 tournaments that he has played since May.

• The 2017 BNP Paribas Open marks the one-year anniversary of #NextGenATP, launched at Indian Wells last year to spotlight the tour’s youngest Top 200 players. Born in 1996 or later, nine #NextGenATP players are in the draw this week, including American teenagers Tiafoe, Stefan Kozlov, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka. Tiafoe is the highest-ranked of the four at No. 86.

• Seven of the Top 10, 15 of the Top 20 and 31 of the Top 40 singles players in the Emirates ATP Rankings are playing doubles at Indian Wells, including Murray, Djokovic and del Potro. Murray and Djokovic are teaming with countrymen Daniel Evans and Troicki respectively. Del Potro, on the other hand, is paired with 43-year-old Indian Leander Paes, who won the 2007 doubles title.