Murray to face Vasek Pospisil in Indian Wells opener

 

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By Ros Satar

  • Andy Murray [1] v Vasek Pospisil [Q]
  • Head to head: Murray leads 4-0
INDIAN WELLS – Andy Murray opens his BNP Paribas account against Vasek Pospisil – the Canadian has yet to take a set off the Brit, but will his star turn at Davis Cup give him confidence?

 

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Andy Murray [1] v Vasek Pospisil [Q] – H2H: Murray leads 4-0

While everyone is still reeling at the prospect of a stacked quarter with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray is seemingly all on his own at the top of the tree. Do not let that fool you though – Pospisil was on a roll during the recent Davis Cup tie against Great Britain, beating a very lacklustre Kyle Edmund and British No. 2 Dan Evans.

Having made the San Francisco Challenger final, he failed to get past the Delray Beach qualifying rounds, before starting a decent run here in the desert. Twice now he has had to come from a set down to prevail in his last two matches, and earns a crack at the World No. 1.

There the wheels come off – not only has he never got the better of the Brit in their previous four encounters, he has never taken a set off Murray. Injuries have really halted this young man’s career. Once inside the Top 30, he is now maybe more renowned for his doubles action.

He might have fancied his chances though – in the past Indian Wells has been seen as a bit of a bug-bear for the Brit. He has endured less than steller losses to Donald Young, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and last year a third year farewell at the hand of Federico Delbonis.

This time he comes in on the back of a solid performance in Dubai where he picked up the title, and of course he is not in THAT half of the draw. That being said, he had a pretty decent draw ahead of him at the Australian Open.

Pospisil has struggled a little this week once more with a back injury, and Murray will most likely look to make him travel the court a lot. It is a court that ought to suit Pospisil’s serve and his doubles prowess makes him pretty agile and really it all comes down to whether the injury starts to hamper his movement and whether the World No. 1 can capitalise on that.

The Brit has had plenty of time to acclimate here in the desert – again that has not always been the case in the past. This ought to be a fair win to ease the Brit on his way

Prediction: Murray in two sets.

Murray and Pospisil are scheduled on Stadium 1 at 7pm (3am GMT, Sunday).