Djokovic, Murray Lead 12 Seeds In Tuesday Indian Wells Action

© Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic plays Grigor Dimitrov at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday.

TUESDAY PREVIEW – TOP 10 SEEDS DJOKOVIC, MURRAY, DEL POTRO, TSONGA IN ACTION

• The top half of the draw features 12 seeds in action Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Leading the way are top seed Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Andy Murray, No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. 

• First up is American No. 32 seed Mardy Fish against the top Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who leads 3-0 in their head-to-head meetings. The last time they met was in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year as Tsonga won in four tight sets. Despite winning 85% of his first serve points and 54% of his second serve points, to 75% and 53% respectively for Tsonga, Fish lost the match (he only converted two of 11 break points) while Tsonga converted three of eight break points. Fish is looking to reach the last 16 here for the third time in 12 appearances, while Tsonga is looking to reach the final 16 here for the fourth time in six appearances.

• The third match on features World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia against No. 31 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria for the second time (Djokovic leads 1-0). The Bulgarian underdog will have to put more pressure on the Serbian’s serve this time out as Djokovic won 90% of first serve points , 77% of second serve points and never faced a break point in the their match last October at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai. Djokovic enters with a 19-match winning streak since his last loss on Oct. 31, 2012 to Sam Querrey in the 2nd Rd. at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris, which was the only time last year that he didn’t reach the final 16 at a Masters 1000 event. The 21-year-old Dimitrov is the youngest-player left in the draw. He is looking to reach the final 16 of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the second time in his career. Last year he reached the 4R at Miami (d. Berdych in 3R, l. to Tipsarevic). He has career record of 1-16 vs. Top 10 opponents with his lone over No. 7 Tomas Berdych in 3R at Miami last year. He hasn’t won a set in his last seven losses to Top 10 foes.

• It’s been nearly five years since Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei upset No. 3 seed Andy Murray of Great Britain in the first round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is their second career meeting. Lu is looking to reach the final 16 of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the second time. As a qualifier he reached the final 16 in Toronto (l. to Kohlschreiber) in 2010. Murray had to rally to win his opener on Sunday has he defeated Evgeny Donskoy 57 62 62 to avoid being bounced from the second round here for the third year in a row. The last time to Scott reached the final 16 here was in 2010 when he reached the quarter-finals (l. to Soderling).

• On Stadium 2, there are three matches, including American Sam Querrey, who is looking to reach the fourth round for the second time (2011) here, against Aussie Marinko Matosevic, who knocked off the Californian in their only previous meeting in Memphis last month. Both players are the No. 2 player from their respective country. Argentine Carlos Berlocq looks to reach the final 16 of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time as he squares off with the top Asian No. 16 Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori won the previous meeting in the second round at this year’s Australian Open in January. In the final singles match, Bjorn Phau of Germany and World No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro square off for the first time. Phau is looking for his second career win over a Top 10 opponent (1-15) and his lone win came over No. 9 Andre Agassi in 2006 at Dubai. 

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