With the rescheduled Indian Wells Masters just a week away, a number of the ATP World Tour’s star names have decided to head to California a few days early to contest the San Diego Open.
Previously home to a WTA event, San Diego has not hosted top-tier tennis since 2015 but this 250 level tournament has attracted significant interest from some high-profile players including world number five Andrey Rublev, US Open semi-finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime, Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz and British legend Andy Murray.
Rublev the Main Candidate to Take Title
Rublev, who was engaged in Laver Cup action for Europe at the weekend, has become a prolific accumulator of titles at both this level and 500 series level, claiming all eight of his career triumphs outside of Masters 1000 and Grand Slam company.
There’s little doubt that he has what it takes to win stronger events and, for a tournament of this nature, he’s the obvious favourite, particularly given the luxury of a bye into the second round, where he will meet Fabio Fognini or wildcard Brandon Nakashima.
Young Canadians Among the Challengers
Like Rublev, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov have received byes into round two and both will fancy their chances of going well in the Golden State.
Auger-Aliassime has enjoyed a steady rise to 11th in the world and, while he found Daniil Medvedev too hot to handle in the US Open semi-finals, the 21-year-old should keep challenging for big titles in the future.
Curiously, Auger-Aliassime still awaits his first ATP World Tour title having been defeated in eight finals but that is a statistic that he will surely put right before too long and it could be this week where he finally gets to lift a trophy.
A second-round meeting with Grigor Dimitrov or Marton Fucsovics would be a reasonable assignment and his main rival in his quarter, Polish player Hurkacz, could be jaded having contested the Moselle Open final in France on Sunday.
Murray and Nishikori Combine for a Cracker
While they are not among the main favourites to win the title, Murray’s first-round clash with Kei Nishikori is a real eye catcher.
Murray, who reached the quarter-finals in Metz last week, has made no secret of his desire to keep playing despite his well-documented injury problems and his appetite for a battle remains undiminished.
However, the Scot has won just five of ten matches since Wimbledon and it’s no surprise to see him made the 23/20 outsider for this clash with Japanese ace Nishikori, who is 4/6 for the victory.
That’s despite a 9-2 head-to-head record in Murray’s favour, although they haven’t met since the 2017 French Open, when the Scot won in four sets.
Murray’s struggles since have to be taken into account but Nishikori is also not the player he once was, although he did reach the semi-finals in Washington in August before losing out to Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open.
The Japanese has a habit of getting embroiled in long matches and that could spark Murray into life. The underdog could make his mark.
*All odds correct at time of writing