When the BNP Paribas Open draw was released on Wednesday, jaws plummeted to the floor at the sight of the star power in the bottom quarter.

Novak Djokovic could set a rematch against Juan Martin del Potro in the third round and Roger Federer has longtime rival Rafael Nadal in his sights in the fourth round. But perhaps the most intriguing match-up is the under-the-radar clash between Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev, set for Tuesday in Indian Wells.

Youth will be served when the two youngest players in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings lock horns for the first time at the professional level. Kyrgios took their lone encounter in the juniors 6-3, 6-1 on the grass of Roehampton, England, in 2013.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Kyrgios. “We have been obviously close mates for a long time. I played juniors with him. I played him once in juniors and I thought he had a big game then. He’s obviously put it together now. He’s had some great results and beaten some big names.

“I know it’s going to be tough, especially on this surface. If he plays his aggressive game, it’s not going to be easy to get looks on his serve, and it’s the same for me. If I go out there and play my style of tennis and I lose, I won’t be surprised. But if I win, I won’t be surprised as well.”

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Brash bashers from the baseline, 21-year-old Kyrgios and 19-year-old Zverev are two of the hottest rising talents on the ATP World Tour, soaring up the Emirates ATP Rankings to the Top 20 in the past year. Both players exude confident and stong personalities on and off the court and are fast becoming fan favourites. It is undoubtedly their first of many FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters, with their career trajectories pointing skyward.

“I will be very excited, because I think we are the two young guys talked about the most, with Dominic Thiem,” Zverev said to the assembled media at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Sunday. “It will be a very exciting match, because he’s played well this year and I’ve played well this year too. We’ll see.”

Kyrgios, seeded 15th, opened his BNP Paribas Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Horacio Zeballos on Sunday afternoon, while 18th-seed Zverev kicked off his bid with a win over another Argentine, downing Facundo Bagnis 7-6(10), 6-3.

Following a breakout run to the fourth round last year, Zverev is hungry to go one step further. The German came up just short to Rafael Nadal in a three-set thriller, falling despite holding a match point. He was one missed volley from becoming the youngest quarter-finalist in Indian Wells since Michael Chang and Andre Agassi in 1989.

“I don’t want to say I can be the champion by the end of the next week, but I feel I can play great tennis and I can beat anybody,” Zverev added. “I have the toughest quarter of the draw and I have a feeling the champion will come out of this section. The next few rounds will be very, very difficult for all us.”

With a Round of 16 blockbuster against either Djokovic or Del Potro at stake, expect plenty of fireworks on Tuesday in the southern California desert.

Roger Federer wasted no time in booking his spot in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday evening. In a battle of veteran players on the ATP World Tour, 35-year-old Federer raced past 36-year-old Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1 in just 51 minutes.

“Very happy. The knee is a thing of the past, which is great. I don’t even have to think or talk about it. So I thought the match went really well,” said Federer. “I’m very pleased with how it went. And moving on to the next round, it’s going to be a different matchup, so I’ve got to adjust again.”

Despite the scoreline, Federer was full of praise for Robert playing some of the best tennis of his career at age 36. 

“I admire those guys who make the breakthrough later on and find a way and not lose love for the game early,” said Federer. “It’s nice to see him do well now and beginning to play against great players on the big courts. That’s been so motivational for those guys to keep going. All of a sudden, age just becomes a number.”

The Swiss star was in fine form, winning 71 per cent of his service points and converting all five of his break point chances. Victory takes Federer to a 53-11 mark at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where he has lifted the trophy four times, most recently in 2014 (d. Djokovic).

After being sidelined for the second half of the 2016 season, Federer made a remarkable comeback at the start of this year, beating Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal in back-to-back five-set tussles to clinch his 18th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open.

There was a surprise for Federer last week, though, in his second tour-level tournament of the year in Dubai, where he was upset by Evgeny Donskoy in the second round. The Basel native looks to bounce back this week, but finds himself in the toughest quarter of the draw, alongside Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Federer goes on to face 24^th seed Steve Johnson, who edged Kevin Anderson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 14 minutes. Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Johnson 1-0, defeating the American in straight-sets last year at Wimbledon.

Two more Americans were in action on Sunday evening. #NextGenATP player Taylor Fritz recorded the biggest win of his young career as he upset sixth seed Marin Cilic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes.

Cilic led 6-4, 3-1, but Fritz fought back to level the match. The 19-year-old American could not close it out as he served for the match at 5-3 in the decider, but regrouped to break Cilic in the next game, leaving the court victorious as the crowd chanted his name.

“It was amazing,” Fritz said of his first win over a Top 10 player. “Just the whole experience with the crowd, how I came back in the match, it’s just, words can’t describe it, really.

“I thought the main thing today was how I returned serve. I thought I returned much better than normal.

“I don’t think it’s the strongest parts of my game. I thought I did a really good job of returning one of the best servers in the game throughout that match. Also, I thought I did a pretty good job of competing and kind of just sticking in the match and staying solid.”

Fritz, a native of Rancho Santa Fe, goes on to face Malek Jaziri as he bids to post his best run at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. 

Jack Sock recovered from a second-set disaster to defeat Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes. The Nebraska native broke decisively in the ninth game of the decider as he set a third-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

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Kontinen/Peers Extend Masters 1000 Win Streak

Henri Kontinen and John Peers extended their dominant run in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, downing Fabrice Martin and Lucas Pouille 7-6(4), 6-4 at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. The Finnish-Aussie tandem have now won six straight matches at the Masters 1000 level, following their maiden triumph in Paris last year. 

Overall, Kontinen and Peers are an impressive 19-2 since late October, having also lifted the trophy at the ATP Finals to cap 2016 and the Australian Open to open 2017. The third seeds will face German brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram set a meeting with Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic after holding off Benoit Paire and Michael Venus 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 in one hour and 17 minutes. Runners-up a year ago in Miami, Klaasen and Ram converted two of four break chances.

The third doubles match of the day ended in a brisk 58 minutes, as Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo moved past Paolo Lorenzi and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-1. 

In an all-Argentine clash, Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the BNP Paribas Open third round with 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Federico Delbonis on Sunday in Indian Wells. After hitting a hot shot tweener-lob winner in the early stages, del Potro fended off set point at 30/40 in the 10th game before sealing the opener in the ensuing tie-break.

“It has been a great year for me. Last season, I played even better than what I expected with my injuries. I’m looking forward to keep going up the rankings this year, trying to get closer to the top guys,” said del Potro. “If I stay healthy and play at the same level as last year, I think I will be close to that goal.”

The Tandil native claimed the only break of the match in the fourth game of the second set to prevail in one hour and 51 minutes. The 28-year-old del Potro is playing just his third tournament of the season after taking time at the start of the year to work more on his fitness.

The 31st seed has found the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to be a happy hunting ground in recent years, reaching the final in 2013 and the semifinals in 2011 (l. to Nadal both times). Next up for del Potro will be either Novak Djokovic, whom he lost to in the Acapulco second round last week, or Kyle Edmund.

A LOOK BACK

Cachantun Open (Santiago, Chile): Top seed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil continues his success in clay-court Challengers with a 7-5, 6-3 over wild card and local favourite Nicolas Jarry. The 33-year-old now has nine Challenger titles, eight of which have come on clay. He has won at least one Challenger every year since 2011.

Jarry drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals this year, having also finished runner-up in his previous event in Morelos, Mexico. (l. Bublik)

Zhuhai Open (Zhuhai, China): Top seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia lived up to his billing by defeating seventh seed and defending champion Thomas Fabbiano of Italy, 6-3, 6-4. Fresh off his victory over Roger Federer at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Donskoy won the last 10 sets he played in Zhuhai. He picks up his 10^th Challenger title and first since winning last July in Astana, Kazakhstan.

A LOOK AHEAD

There are four Challengers on the schedule this week, with the $150,000 event in Irving, Texas, taking top billing as it returns for the sixth straight year. Several top 50 players are scheduled to compete including defending champion Marcel Granollers of Spain, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Daniel Evans of Great Britain.

The $75,000 event in Drummondville, Canada, is back for the third consecutive year. Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic is the top seed and local favourite Peter Polansky is the second seed. #NextGenATP player Quentin Halys of France is the third seed. Promising Canadian teenagers Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also in the draw, in addition to last year’s runner-up Edward Corrie of Great Britain.

The $75,000 tournament in Shenzhen, China, also returns for the fourth straight year. Donskoy looks for another big week in China as the top seed and Yuichi Sugita of Japan is the second seed. #NextGenATP player Duckhee Lee of Korea is the fourth seed, while last year’s runner-up and local favourite Di Wu also features in the main draw.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, also plays host to a new $50,000 Challenger on hard-courts. Local favourite Carlos Berlocq is the top seed and Dutra Silva aims for another successful week as the second seed. Jarry is also in the draw as he aims for his first Challenger title.

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ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.

With on-court temperatures touching 120 degrees, Rafael Nadal stayed cool in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Guido Pella in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Pella got off to a hot start, breaking Nadal in the third game of their first meeting. But the fifth-seeded Spaniard settled in and reeled off six of the next seven games to clinch the opener and break at the start of the second set. Pella halted Nadal’s momentum by canceling out the break in the second game, but the Spaniard regained his lead in the fifth game and would win the last five games as he closed out victory in one hour and 21 minutes.

“It was a solid match,” said Nadal. “It was a first-round match where I didn’t try to do amazing things. I tried to play solid. I tried to find the rhythm and I think I did. For moments I played well, for moments I played a little bit less well. The important thing is I won and I won in straight sets. I had some good feelings for a lot of moments. In general terms, I think I played a solid match.

“I adapt myself better to the dry heat than to the humid heat. I think it’s easier for the players to resist that conditions than when it’s very, very humid. But it’s true that today was hot and there was a lot of sun out there. It was difficult to control the ball. The ball was flying a lot.”

Nadal is coming off a runner-up showing in Acapulco (l. to Querrey), which marked his first outing since an epic five-set final with Roger Federer at the Australian Open. The Mallorcan has won three of his 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in the desert, compiling a 49-9 tournament record. He lifted the trophy in 2007, 2009 and 2013.

The 30-year-old Nadal finds himself in the ‘group of death’ section of the draw, with the prospect of facing Federer again in the fourth round. For now, the left-hander advances to a meeting with either Pierre-Hugues Herbert or Fernando Verdasco.

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Grigor Dimitrov has been one of the hot players at the start of the year and he showed no sign of letting up as he powered through his second-round match with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Mikhail Youzhny in 70 minutes.

The Bulgarian stated his intent in January by winning the title in Brisbane before reaching his second Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. He then won his hometown title in Sofia the following week.

The 25 year old, who works with Dani Vallverdu, will look to get past the third round in the desert for the first time when he faces either Jack Sock or Henri Laaksonen.