Previous BNP Paribas Open Coverage

Women’s Singles

The only of the four US to begin qualifying to move into the main draw was Allie Kiick. Kick knocked off An-Sophie Mestach 6-4, 7-5 and now the 18-year-old has a chance to make a mark in Indian Wells if she can do any damage in the main draw. Seven US women, including Kiick, will be in action today with four of them facing lower ranked opponents.  Madison Keys is in one of the most interesting matches of the first round when she takes on Tsvetana Pironkova. The two are very evenly ranked with Keys the highest ranked American outside of Sloane Stephens in the field and Pironkova the second highest ranked of all the first round opponents for the US women. Another intriguing matchup is Alison Riske, third highest ranked American, against Bojana Jovanovski who is ranked four spots ahead of her and is the highest ranked opponent any woman from the US will see in the first round.

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Men’s Singles

There were 14 American men in the qualifying draw when I covered it yesterday. That changed as Michael Shabaz became the 15th when he was added as an alternate after one entrant was unable to compete. Shabaz took on Robert Kendrick who I wrote about yesterday. It was a decent battle between the two Americans with Shabaz emerging with the win 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. The other American vs. American matchup on Tuesday was #23 Bobby Reynolds taking on Clay Thompson. This one went to tiebreakers in both sets with Reynolds winning the tiebreakers 7-4 and 8-6 to get the straight sets win. Only one American lost to a lower seeded player, #12 Wayne Odesnik lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (1) to John-Patrick Smith.

On Wednesday only two Americans will be the higher ranked player in their matchup. #11 Alex Kuznetsov is taking on Taro Daniel and in the American vs. American matchup of Austin Krajicek and Robby Ginepri, Krajicek is the higher ranked player by almost 100 spots. 11 American men are already placed in the main draw with at least one more guaranteed in the Krajicke-Ginepri matchup. It’s possible though that the US could have as many as 18 in the draw depending on how well the final day of qualifying goes.

Schedule:

• March 5th
  • Men’s Qualifying
    • 2 PM ET – Greg Ouellette vs. Daniel Munoz de la Nava
    • 2 PM ET – Nicolas Meister vs. #8 Dominic Thiem
    • Approx. 4 PM ET – Daniel Kosakowski vs. #3 David Goffin
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – #23 Bobby Reynolds vs. #4 Stephane Robert
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – Austin Krajicek vs.  Robby Ginepri
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – Michael Shabaz vs. #5 Paolo Lorenzi
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – #11 Alex Kuznetsov vs. Taro Daniel
  • Women’s First Round
    • 2 PM ET – Shelby Rogers vs. Petra Cetkovska – First ever meeting
    • Approx. 4 PM ET – Alison Riske vs. Bojana Jovanovski – Jovanovski leads 1-0 all-time
    • Approx. 4 PM ET – Lauren Davis vs. Yung-jan Chan – First ever meeting
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – Madison Keys vs. Tsvetana Pironkova – First ever meeting
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – Allie Kiick vs. Kurumi Nara – First ever meeting
    • Approx. 10 PM ET – Christina McHale vs. Casey Dellacqua – First ever meeting
    • Approx. 10 PM ET – Varvara Lepchenko vs. Alison Van Uytvanck – First ever meeting

Previous BNP Paribas Open Coverage

Women’s Singles

All four American women who started qualifying were unseeded facing seeded opponents in the first round. The US went 2-2 in those matches with Madison Brengle beating Romina Oprandi 6-4, 6-1 and Allie Kiick with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 win over Mandy Minella. They both need wins on Tuesday to reach the main draw. 18-year-old Kiick seemingly has the better chance as her opponent, An-Sophie Mestach, was also unseeded.

Men’s Singles

Things will get underway for the men on Tuesday with qualifying beginning with 12 spots up for grabs. There are 14 American men involved and ten of the 12 spots have an American among the four men who could grab it. There are three potential USA-USA matchups in the second round of qualifying but there’s also one in the first round as #23 seed Bobby Reynolds takes on Clay Thompson. Other than Reynolds only two other Americans are seeded, Alex Kuznetsov (#11) and Wayne Odesnik (#12). Five of the US men are wildcard entries into the field.

Perhaps the most interesting story belongs to Robert Kendrick. Kendrick is a former top 70 player in the world who was banned for a year after a positive drug test at the 2011 French Open. He came back after that and played for about a year before retiring. He did play in a tournament in Sacramento in September losing 6-7 (5), 3-6 in the first round. He’s a player who once nearly beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2006 but lost in five sets when Nadal was ranked #2. If he could get through qualifying it’d be interesting to see if he could make some noise in the main draw. He is now 34 so time is certainly ticking on any career he may hope to have.

WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the BNP Paribas Open all tournament long. The women’s singles main draw starts play on Wednesday with 12 Americans already in it and the potential for two more. Check back tomorrow morning for an update on men’s qualifying and a preview of the women’s first round.

Schedule:

• March 4th
  • Women’s Qualifying
    • Approx. 4 PM ET – Madison Brengle vs. #5 Camila Giorgi
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – Allie Kick vs. An-Sophie Mestach
  • Men’s Qualifying
    • 2 PM ET – Stefan Kozlov vs. #22 Samuel Groth
    • 2 PM ET – Daniel Kosakowski vs. #16 Thiemo De Bakker
    • 2 PM ET – Greg Ouellette vs. #15 Jimmy Wang
    • 2 PM ET – Nicolas Meister vs. #20 Illya Marchenko
    • Approx 4 PM ET – Jesse Witten vs. #8 Evgeny Donskoy
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – #23 Bobby Reynolds vs. Clay Thompson
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – Raymond Sarmiento vs. #10 Paul-Henri Mathieu
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – Austin Krajicek vs. #17 Damir Dzumhur
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – #12 Wayne Odesnik vs. John-Patrick Smith
    • Approx. 8 PM ET – Robert Kendrick vs. #24 Rik De Voest
    • Approx. 10 PM ET – Robby Ginepri vs. #9 Jan Hajek
    • Approx. 10 PM ET – #11 Alex Kuznetsov vs. Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela
    • Approx. 10 PM ET – Marcos Giron vs. #4 Stephane Robert