Former top five stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka have received wild cards into this year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the tournament announced Tuesday.

Wawrinka is a former champion at the ATP Masters 1000 event, where he lifted the trophy in 2014. The 36-year-old, who has not competed since March last year, will be making his 12th appearance in Monte-Carlo.

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Frenchman Tsonga will join the three-time Grand Slam champion at the clay-court tournament. The 18-time ATP Tour titlist is a two-time semi-finalist in Monte-Carlo, where he made the last four in 2013 and 2016.

So far this season, Tsonga has earned tour-level wins on home soil in Montpellier and Marseille, beating 23-year-old Kacper Zuk and countryman Gilles Simon, respectively.

The third Masters 1000 event of the season will run from Sunday, 10 April through Sunday, 17 April, with World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas the defending champion.

Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios will meet in a blockbuster showdown on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open, their first clash in more than two years.

Nadal currently leads their ATP Head2Head 5-3, but will Kyrgios spring the upset to narrow the deficit in their rivalry? ATPTour.com looks back at the pair’s previous meetings.

2020 Australian Open R16, hard, Nadal d. Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4)
It is clear that Kyrgios brings his best to challenge the likes of Nadal on tennis’ biggest stages. So when the pair walked onto Rod Laver Arena to compete in front of the Aussie’s home crowd, there was little doubt Kyrgios would bring the fight to the legendary Spaniard.

Nadal took control early, but one slip in the second set allowed Kyrgios to dig into the match. And dig he did. The Aussie found a great serving rhythm to push the lefty to the brink, but Nadal was a bit too consistent in the tie-breaks to triumph.

“I’m shattered to have lost tonight,” Kyrgios said. “These are the matches that I want to win the most.”

Rafa was unable to capitalise on his big win, losing a gruelling quarter-final, which lasted more than four hours, against Dominic Thiem in the next round.

^{Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images}
2019 Wimbledon R64, grass, Nadal d. Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3)
Five years on from the pair’s first clash at Wimbledon, Nadal and Kyrgios arrived at Wimbledon at different levels of form. The Spaniard, No. 2 in the ATP Rankings, was fresh off his record-extending 12th Roland Garros title, while the Aussie had won consecutive matches just twice all year.

But Kyrgios had defeated Nadal en route to the Acapulco title earlier in the season, and the World No. 43 did not fear his opponent. He even brought out the underarm serve and threw everything but the SW19 grass at the Spaniard. But Nadal was too solid under pressure, clawing through tie-breaks in the third and fourth sets before eventually reaching the semi-finals, in which he lost against Roger Federer.

“With his talent and with his serve, he can win a Grand Slam, of course,” Nadal said of Kyrgios. “He has the talent to do it.”

^{Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images}
2019 Acapulco R16, hard, Kyrgios d. Nadal 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6)
Put Kyrgios in a lively atmosphere with fans craving entertainment and a legend across the net, and you will probably be in for a show. It is safe to say the crowd got what it wished for at the 2019 Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

Kyrgios battled hard at the ATP 500 in Mexico, going for his shots against the top seed. Even still, he was in a losing position. Nadal led the final-set tie-break 6/3, but was unable to capitalise on three consecutive match points, with a Kyrgios backhand drop volley at 4/6 hitting the top of the net, but bouncing over. Nick completed the comeback when the Spaniard missed a backhand long on match point.

“That’s what we play for. To come to Acapulco, Centre Court, a packed crowd. They were never silent,” Kyrgios said. “They were cheering Rafa’s name, cheering my name. It’s a match I will never forget.”

It was a week Kyrgios will never forget, as he battled past Stan Wawrinka, John Isner and Alexander Zverev in his next three matches to lift the trophy and complete the most impressive week of his career.

2017 Beijing F, hard, Nadal d. Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1
Nadal nearly lost his opening match at the China Open, where he saved two match points against Lucas Pouille. From there, the recent US Open champion found fire. His performance in the final against Kyrgios was most impressive of all.

The lefty saved all four break points he faced against the Aussie and won an astonishing 52 per cent of his return points against one of the ATP Tour’s best servers to triumph after 92 minutes.

“I have lot of respect for Nick. He’s one of the players with more talent on the Tour,” Nadal said. “Of course, when he’s playing well, when he really wants to play, without a doubt is one of the toughest opponent to play against.”

2017 Cincinnati QF, hard, Kyrgios d. Nadal 6-2, 7-5
The day Kyrgios and Nadal met at the 2017 Western & Southern Open was an interesting one, and not just because they played each other. The pair had to compete twice that day to catch up on the order of play due to rain.

Kyrgios snuck by Ivo Karlovic in three tight sets and Nadal eliminated Albert Ramos-Vinolas just to set their blockbuster later in the day.

“As soon as I finished, I went back to the hotel. I had a nap. Showered up. Went to the barber shop. I chilled,” Kyrgios said. “I knew I had to sort of just chill out for tonight’s match.”

The break apparently worked, as the Aussie came out flying against Nadal. At 5-1, he even took a backhand return from near the service line, much like Federer’s “Sneak Attack By Roger” tactic. Kyrgios let slip one opportunity to serve out the match, but managed to close out his rival in straight sets. The next day he made his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati, where he eventually fell against Grigor Dimitrov.

2017 Madrid R16, clay, Nadal d. Kyrgios 6-3, 6-1
Entering the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open in 2017, Nadal had lost just two sets in his clay-court season. Not even a motivated Kyrgios was able to trouble the Spaniard.

One of the biggest servers in tennis, the Aussie managed to win just 51 per cent of his first-serve points and 45 per cent of his service points overall against Nadal, who cruised to victory in only 72 minutes. 

“I think it’s great news,” Nadal said. “I think it’s not normal to win against an opponent like this because Nick is a really good opponent.”

Nadal followed up his triumph against Kyrgios by defeating three consecutive Top 10 opponents — David Goffin, Djokovic and Dominic Thiem — without dropping a set. The Spaniard later captured his 10th Roland Garros trophy, earning the crown in Paris without losing a set.

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2016 Rome R16, clay, Nadal d. Kyrgios 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4
It took nearly two years for Kyrgios and Nadal to meet for the second time. This time, they clashed on the Spaniard’s favourite surface: clay.

Kyrgios was no longer new on the scene, though. The Australian was up to World No. 20 and fresh off a victory against a Top 10 star in Milos Raonic on the Roman clay. Nadal had won clay-court titles in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona earlier in the season, but he could not gain the upper hand early on.

Nadal was unrelenting, though. He converted four of his 15 break points to battle on after two hours and 40 minutes.

“When you lose a set, I think everybody is worried. If somebody comes here and says, ‘I was not worried after losing the first set’, [they] probably [are] lying,” Nadal said. “When you lose a set, you can lose another one. If you lose the second or the third, you’re out. And especially playing against a player like Nick, that he has a huge serve, very aggressive player, great shots… it’s difficult to play under pressure after losing the first.”

2014 Wimbledon R16, grass, Kyrgios d. Nadal 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3
Welcome to the world, Nick Kyrgios.

Hardcore tennis fans knew the Aussie was on the rise entering Wimbledon. But to the casual fan, Kyrgios was a 19-year-old ranked No. 144 whose run would surely come to an end in the fourth round against Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion.

But the teen, who just two weeks earlier had been playing an ATP Challenger Tour event, looked at home on Centre Court. He put his big serve and bold game to good use on the slick SW19 grass to announce himself as one of the ATP Tour’s brightest young talents.

“That’s the biggest win of my career obviously, and that’s something I’m never going to forget,” Kyrgios said. “I’m going to draw so much confidence out of that no matter where I play now. To have that under my belt, it’s massive.”

^{Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images}

Rafael Nadal survived a serving bombardment from 6’ 11” Reilly Opelka on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open as he extended his perfect start to the ATP Tour season to 18-0.

With his back against the wall, the Spaniard blunted Opelka’s big-hitting game with heavy topspin as he demonstrated an abundance of agility and patience, overcoming the American 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Nadal, who is enjoying a career-best start to a year, stood deep behind the baseline on Opelka’s serve, which enabled him to put returns back into court with ferocious depth and power.

The 35-year-old soaked up Opelka’s brand of ‘Big Man’ tennis and rallied from a break down in the second set to eventually advance after two hours and 11 minutes. Nadal now leads Opelka 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, with their previous meeting coming on clay in Rome last season.

“He is one of the toughest opponents on Tour,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “It is very tough to control his weapons with his serve and forehand. I think I played my best match of the tournament so far today. I am very pleased with how I was able to win the match, with two difficult tie-breaks. This victory means a lot to me.”

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The World No. 4 is the highest-ranked player left in the draw at the ATP Masters 1000 event and is aiming to capture his fourth tour-level title of a remarkable 2022 season this week.

Nadal has made history on multiple occasions this year, having clinched a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open, before he earned his 400th Masters 1000 win over Daniel Evans in the third round in Indian Wells.

“I think I played well,” Nadal added. “It is difficult because you need to find the right balance. When you are playing points from the baseline you think you can’t miss because you won’t have a lot of opportunities. So you need to find the balance to not allow him to come in and not taking big risks.”

Nadal is a three-time champion in the California desert (2007, 09, 13) and will continue his title pursuit when he plays Nick Kyrgios in the last eight. The Australian moved through after #NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw from their match due to illness.

“Nick is playing great,” Nadal said. “He is one of the toughest opponents on Tour. Everyone knows how good he is when he is motivated. It is going to be a good test for me and good challenge. I am excited to be in the quarter-finals.”

In a tight first set, Nadal had to wait for his opportunities, with Opelka saving the only break point of the set at 3-4, 30/40 as they moved to a tie-break. From 3/3, it was Nadal who found the greater consistency from the baseline, pulling Opelka from side to side as he moved ahead.

The second set saw Opelka continue to crush forehands and blast backhands and he capitalised on two double faults from Nadal to break in the fifth game. The American forced Nadal against the back wall on Stadium 1 at times and was presented with an opportunity to move 5-2 ahead. However, Nadal saved the break point with a powerful serve, before he demonstrated his trademark fighting spirit, battling back to 4-4.

After Opelka hung onto his serve at 5-6, another tie-break was left to determine the set. Nadal once again made no mistake, ruthlessly raising his game to seal victory.

Self-proclaimed ‘Serve Bot’ Opelka played aggressively against Nadal, but was unable to match the fourth seed’s intensity in the crucial moments. The World No. 17, who advanced to the final in Toronto last season, was aiming to reach his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final.

San Diego’s Taylor Fritz is back in the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals thanks to a gutsy win in gusty conditions Wednesday in Indian Wells. A semi-finalist five months ago in his home tournament, Fritz was nearly sent packing by road-runner Alex de Minaur but ultimately closed out a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory.

It was the American’s second straight third-set tie-break win, matching his third-round result against Jaume Munar on Tuesday.

“I’m really not a big fan of playing de Minuar,” Fritz said after the match, noting the change in style from the Spaniard, who played from deep in the court with heavy spin. “Now I come out on the court, he’s on the baseline hitting everything so flat and low. The first set I really just couldn’t time the ball. Going from two extremes, different players, it really was tough for me.”

An eventful deciding set saw the pair split four breaks of serve, with both men leading by a break early before de Minaur levelled at 3-all. There were no further breaks from there, and the entire tie-break went the way of the server until Fritz drew an error with a deep backhand to cap a 10-ball exchange on match point.

“In the end I knew what was working for me and just kind of battled through it,” Fritz explained.

The two-hour, 23-minute contest featured frequent lung-busting rallies as both baseliners were happy to build points slowly from the backcourt. One such rally, which proved emblematic of the match as a whole, saw Fritz gradually gain the upper hand before tracking back to return a deep lob, narrowly dodging the wind-whipped ball as it fell from the desert sky. The American regained control from there and closed with a backhand winner as he grinded his way to a hold early in the deciding set.

The longest rally of the match was 44 balls, with de Minaur winning a 31-ball exchange to take a 3-2 lead in the decisive tie-break. 

The Australian was in control early, dropping just one point on first serve in an opening set he won by a double break. But Fritz began to turn the match around midway through the second. He converted on his first break point of the match to edge in front, 3-2, then threatened in nearly every return game the rest of the way.

De Minaur falls to 0-7 in the Round of 16 at ATP Masters 1000 events, while Fritz advances to his third straight quarter-final at a Masters event (Indian Wells, Paris).

The American will face Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarter-finals, after the unseeded Serb upset Matteo Berrettini, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

“He’s a really good ball-striker and I think it’s going to be a lot of big hitting probably,” Fritz previewed, noting Kecmanovic’s strong form of late, including a run to the fourth round at the Australian Open. 

Miomir Kecmanovic earned just his second Top 10 win Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open, upsetting World No. 6 Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Indian Wells.

The Serbian is enjoying a dream run in the California desert and backed up his third-round win over Botic van de Zandschulp with a consistent and aggressive display against Berrettini on Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Kecmanovic stood close to the baseline on return to shut down the angles on Berrettini’s serve, targeting the Italian’s backhand successfully throughout. He forced the sixth seed into errors with his depth and precision and held his nerve in a tense third set to advance after two hours and 29 minutes in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

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With his standout victory, the World No. 61 has booked his place in the last eight at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the second time, after also advancing to the same stage in Indian Wells on his tournament debut in 2019.

Kecmanovic’s only previous Top 10 victory came against then-World No. 6 Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati in 2019. The 22-year-old will meet Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals after the American defeated Alex de Minaur 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

It is the third time Kecmanovic has reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event this season, having advanced to the last eight on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.

In a rock-solid first-set performance, Kecmanovic looked to step inside the baseline and dictate as he quickly found his rhythm on his groundstrokes to pin the Italian back. The Serbian gained an early break in the fourth game and looked comfortable on serve, not facing a break point in the set as he moved ahead.

The second set was a close affair, with Berrettini utilising his powerful serve to great effect as he looked to regain a foothold in the match. According to Infosys ATP Stats, Berrettini hammered nine aces in the set and crucially relied on the weapon at 5-5, saving a break point with a thunderous first serve. With the pair moving to a tie-break, it was Berrettini who held his nerve from 5/5 to level.

Both players looked tense in the third set, with Berrettini showing his experience as he saved two break points on serve at 3-4. Kecmanovic refused to go away though and found the crucial break in the 10th game of the set, letting out a roar after sealing his win.

Berrettini is a five-time tour-level titlist but was bidding to win his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Indian Wells. The 25-year-old defeated #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune and South African Lloyd Harris en route to his fourth-round clash against Kecmanovic.

The BNP Paribas Open delivers a manic day of tennis on Wednesday with all fourth-round singles matches to be played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Twenty-year-old Jannik Sinner, a man in a hurry, is the youngest player in the ATP Tour’s Top 10. In 2020, the Italian was the youngest male quarter-finalist at Roland Garros since Novak Djokovic 14 years earlier. Sinner reached the quarter-final of this year’s Australian Open, becoming the youngest to do that since Nick Kyrgios in 2015.

Coincidentally – or perhaps not – Sinner and Kyrgios meet in one of the eight tantalising round of 16 matches in Indian Wells. Sinner needed three sets against Benjamin Bonzi to make this happen, while the unseeded Kyrgios achieved a greater degree of difficulty, upsetting No. 8 Casper Ruud in straight sets.

The two have never met.

bringing the heattt 🔥@NickKyrgios #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/7po5mOYstU

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 15, 2022

The big-serving Australian had split two matches in 2022 coming into Indian Wells, but has found his happy place in the desert, tripling that win total in less than a week. In the back of his mind, Kyrgios probably carries a sense of unfinished business. In 2017 he staged upset victories here over Alexander Zverev and Djokovic before withdrawing with an illness with Roger Federer lined up as his quarter-final opponent.

Sinner, on the strength of his performance in Melbourne, is 13-2 this year – and a sporty 92-45 (.672) for his young career. And to think, he almost chose a career in professional skiing.

“Skiing is just go one and a half minutes down the hill,” Sinner told reporters. “If you make one mistake, the whole thing is over. In tennis you can still make some mistakes but still win. This is why I chose tennis.”

After winning 21 major titles, including this year’s Australian Open, it’s clear that ultimately tennis chose Rafael Nadal. Despite a series of injuries – the latest a chronic foot issue – and advancing age (he’s 35), Nadal has shown remarkable consistency.

No. 4 seed Nadal is eyeing a quarter-final berth when he meets No. 17 Reilly Opelka. The Spaniard won their only match, in straight sets, in the semi-final of last year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. Rafa is working on a Tour-best 17-match winning streak to start the season.

According to the seeding, World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev was supposed to play Roberto Bautista Agut. Instead we have No. 19 Carlos Alcaraz versus No. 26 Gael Monfils, a dashing pair of players coming off upsets. Monfils took down Medvedev in three sets, while Alcaraz hammered countryman Bautista Agut in two.

For Monfils, it was his second victory over a World No. 1, going back 13 years to Doha where he beat Nadal in the quarter-final. The 35-year-old Frenchman knows that the 18-year-old Alcaraz – 10-1 for the season, including the title in Rio de Janeiro – will be a tough out.

“He’s full of confidence, young, hitting the balls big,” Monfils observed. “I just have to play my game and be there and try to find a solution. I’ve never played him, so it’s going to be interesting.”

Cameron Norrie vs Jenson Brooksby offers this intriguing question: Who will feel more at home on the courts of Indian Wells? Norrie, the defending champion – or Brooksby, who grew up nearby and attended the tournament as a kid?

“I definitely have an appreciation for it,” Brooksby said. “In my process and everything, I don’t think about it now because that can’t be my focus. At the same time, it is in the back of my head how special it is and how cool it is.”

World No. 6 Matteo Berrettini, who defeated No. 30 Lloyd Harris 6-4, 7-5, is up against Miomir Kecmanovic, a 7-6 (3), 7-5 winner over Botic Van de Zandschulp. The Italian had won only a single match in three previous appearances at Indian Wells but will be looking for his third this week against Kecmanovic. Berrettini hit 12 aces against Harris and won 36 of his 41 first-serve points (88 per cent), according to Infosys ATP Stats. In 2019, Kecmanovic reached the quarter-finals in his first try at Indian Wells – as a lucky loser. It will be the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

As they both come off matches featuring pivotal tie-breaks, No. 20 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 29 Alex de Minaur are certainly battle-tested for their fourth-round meeting. They have, as they say, a history.

They’ve already met five times, with the Australian de Minaur winning the first four, beginning with victories at an ATP Challenger Tour event and the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2018. The results were the same in 2019, in Atlanta and Basel, both in straight sets. But at last year’s US Open, Fritz finally got on the board with a first-round victory, taking the opening tie-break and winning in four sets.

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The John Isner vs Grigor Dimitrov matchup is difficult to read. This will be their fourth meeting – and all four have come in Masters 1000 events (in Miami, Cincinnati, Paris, and now Indian Wells). Isner is up, 2-1. The caveat? They haven’t played in nearly five years.

Both men are in form. The No. 23-seeded Isner defeated No. 14 Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3, firing 13 aces in the process. No. 33 Dimitrov defeated No. 31 Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.

Rounding out the fourth-round action are No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev and 2021 Miami Open presented by Itau champion Hubert Hurkacz. Rublev has impressed on his way to the fourth round for the first time, completing straight-sets wins over Dominik Koepfer and Frances Tiafoe. His No. 11-seeded opponent seems to thrive in the desert conditions, however, and is seeking a third quarter-final in as many appearances in Indian Wells.

An indication of how tight an encounter to expect is the pair’s most recent meeting in the semi-finals in Dubai last month. World No. 7 Rublev recovered from dropping the opening set to squeeze through via a tie-break in the decider. That Dubai title run forms part of Rublev’s current 11-match winning streak and he is looking forward to another high-level encounter against a player who leads him 2-1 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“I was thinking after the Dubai match, when am I going to see him [Hurkacz] again?” said Rublev after the win over Tiafoe. “But it’s tennis, it’s fun, we cannot control this, so we have to face each other tomorrow again and hopefully it’s going to be another good match.”

SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022

STADIUM 1 Starts at 11:00 am
ATP – [20] Taylor Fritz (USA) vs [29] Alex de Minaur (AUS)
ATP – [4] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs [17] Reilly Opelka (USA)

Not Before 3:00 PM
WTA – [24] Simona Halep (ROU) vs Petra Martic (CRO)

Not Before 6:00 PM
WTA – [3] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [25] Madison Keys (USA)
ATP – [12] Cameron Norrie (GBR) vs Jenson Brooksby (USA)

STADIUM 2 Starts at 11:00 am
ATP – [6] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)
ATP – [10] Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs [WC] Nick Kyrgios (AUS)
ATP – [23] John Isner (USA) vs [33] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

Not Before 6:00 pm
ATP – [26] Gael Monfils (FRA) vs [19] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)
ATP – [WC] John Isner (USA)/Jack Sock (USA) vs [WC] Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

STADIUM 3 Starts at 11:00 am
WTA – [3] Cori Gauff (USA)/Catherine McNally (USA) vs [7] Asia Muhammad (USA)/Ena Shibahara (JPN)

Not Before 1:00 PM
WTA – Marie Bouzkova (CZE)/Lucie Hradecka (CZE) vs [OSE] Alizé Cornet (FRA)/Leylah Fernandez (CAN)

Not Before 4:00 pm
ATP – [7] Andrey Rublev vs [11] Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
ATP – Taylor Fritz (USA)/Tommy Paul (USA) vs Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/Alexander Zverev (GER)