The prestigious 1000 category tennis tournament in Indian Wells has started in the USA. It is held in parallel, both among women. Correspondent bbabo.net - about who will play Kazakhstan at the start of the competition.
In the main draw of the women's singles tournament, 17th seed Elena Rybakina and Yulia Putintseva will show themselves. The men will play Alexander Bublik, seeded under the 31st number, as well as Mikhail Kukushkin, who went through two matches in the qualifying stage.
The first part of the season at the first racket of the country Rybakina clearly did not work out. Permanent injuries, illnesses and refusals from matches. Now Elena will play for the first time in three weeks and maybe now is the time to get her optimal shape.
One of the rating tennis players of the tournament will miss the first round, and in the second round she will play with the best of the pair Alison van Uytvank (Belgium) - Dalma Galfi (Hungary, Q). The match between these athletes will take place only on the night of Friday, March 11. Therefore, Rybakina still has time to prepare for the tournament additionally.
Putintseva, on the other hand, starts her journey right from the first round of the tournament. The 47th racket of the world from Kazakhstan at the start of the competition will meet with an American who has passed through the qualification - 17-year-old Ashlyn Krueger. The local tennis player occupies 542nd place in the world ranking table, and here it is Putintseva who looks like the clear favorite.
But it is worth noting that the young American in qualifying in two sets defeated the 82nd racket of the world from Hungary, Panna Udvardi - 7:6(5), 7:6(2), and then outplayed her compatriot Christina McHale, who had previously been in the top -25 - 1:6, 6:4, 6:0. So don't underestimate Kruger.
This meeting will take place next night and will begin at 01:00 Nur-Sultan time.
The best Kazakh tennis player in the men's category, Bublik, will miss the first round for the same reason as Rybakina. Thanks to the 31st seed, he will have to wait for the result of the meeting between former world No. 1 Scot Andy Murray (WC) and Japanese Taro Daniel (Q).
Interestingly, Murray and Daniel will play each other for the third time since the beginning of the year. And while the Japanese did not manage to take a set from an experienced opponent - 0:5 in games.
This match will take place on the night of Saturday, March 12, and Bublik has a couple more days of rest before the start of the competition. Especially Alexander can be helped by a psychological recovery after a successful game in the Davis Cup.
Experienced Kukushkin qualified without any problems. First, he beat the more rated Andreas Seppi from Italy - 6:2, 6:4. Then he left the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioku out of work - 6:2, 7:6(4).
In the first round of the main draw of the tournament, the 34-year-old athlete will play with the American Tommy Paul. The local tennis player is not only ten years younger than Mikhail, but also much higher in the ranking - 39th position against 154th.
Moreover, in January they already met at the Australian Open, and then Paul won a landslide victory - 6:3, 6:4, 6:2. This meeting will take place on the night of Saturday, March 12th.
In the event of a victory over Paul, Kukushkin in the second round will play with the third seed from Germany, Alexander Zverev, who previously received a severe punishment for unsportsmanlike behavior.
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Photos: Australian Open (1), ATP Rotterdam (2)
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