Casper Ruud will meet Cristian Garin in the Third Round of the 2023 Indian Wells Masters. The match will be played on Sunday March 12th, 2023.
Casper Ruud is the third seed here at the 2023 Indian Wells Masters and is ranked fourth on the ATP Tour. After receiving a First Round bye here, he was drawn against the dangerous Diego Schwartzman. It looked to be a difficult match on paper, but Ruud dismantled his opponent, claiming a 6-2, 6-3 victory. He used his elite return game to great effect here, breaking Schwartzman at will to set up a comfortable victory. His next opponent Cristian Garin has been playing well lately, but Ruud will start as the favorite.
Cristian Garin is unseeded here at the Indian Wells Masters and is ranked 97th in the world. He is much better than his ranking suggests however, but has been quite inconsistent over the past few seasons after breaking into the top 20 a while ago. He had to qualify for the main draw, and then cruised past Daniel Elahi Galan and Yoshihito Nishioka to reach this stage. It was his win against Nishioka that was particularly impressive, serving extremely well while claiming the 6-4, 6-0 victory. He is the underdog here against Casper Ruud but definitely has the game to trouble the Norwegian.
Despite Garin looking outstanding so far here at the Indian Wells Masters I don’t think he has enough quality to defeat Casper Ruud here. Ruud is one of the most solid players in the world, and rarely gives anything away. Garin has the edge in firepower, but I expect Ruud to wear him down from the baseline and force him into numerous errors. The Chilean will make it interesting, but back Ruud to advance here.