Murray has gift draw at Indian Wells

For the first time since Melbourne Park in January, all the best players from the ATP and WTA tours have gathered together to hit tennis balls at each other in return for bundles of cash.  

Indian Wells will be without Serena Williams, however.  The world number one has withdrawn from this and also the next tournament in Miami.

Pulling out was late enough to require some fancy repair work to the draw, and beneficiaries are headed by Karolina Pliskova.

The number three seed has been moved into the position previously occupied by Serena, effectively giving her the top seed's run at the title.

Russian Daria Kasatkina is now seeded for the event, joining the other 31 seeds with first round byes.  Before the Williams news, she would have had to win her way to a second round match.

Funnily enough Daria will play another Pliskova, Karolina's twin sister Kristyna.

Not too many results have rocked California so far, but Lesia Tsurenko would have expected her Acapulco success to have carried on further than a first round loss to qualifier Shuai Peng.  

Ekaterina Makarova, Eugenie Bouchard and Alison Riske all lost matches to opponents with less credentials, but the major action won't begin until the top 32 join the fray in round two.

The men's draw is stacked in Andy Murray's favour.  Sitting at the top of the draw,  the world number one has Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Dominic Thiem and out of form Stan Wawrinka as fellow top ten players in his half. 

The bottom half has second seed Novak Djokovic, and he has the following top ten players with him - Kei Nishikori, Rafa Nadal, Marin Cilic, and Roger Federer.  Also there are Acapulco winner Sam Querrey, Aus Open semi finalist Grigor Dimitrov, Delray Beach winner Jack Sock, Montpellier winner Alexander Zverev, Dubai finalist Fernando Verdasco, and Marseille finalist Lucas Pouille.

Throw in Kyrgios and del Potro and it is easy to see that this is the most uneven draw in recent history.

The prospects of a third round match between Djokovic and del Potro and maybe a fourth round Djokovic v Kyrgios are terrific, but then there is the chance of Federer meeting Nadal in the round of sixteen.

Djokovic v Nadal or Federer could be a quarter final.

There is every chance that the matches of the tournament at Indian Wells 2017 for the men may be all played before the semi finals.

Spain comes second - 3 times

As players from both the ATP and WTA tours prepare for the big Indian Wells tournament in California, five are celebrating significant victories over the weekend.

Andy Murray, extended his lead at the top of the world rankings after claiming the Dubai title, his first of 2017.  A scrappy start to the final, where Fernando Verdasco broke the first two Scottish serves, was fast forgotten as Murray swept through the final five games of set one taking it 6-3.

Verdasco had no hope in set two, winning only a single point on the Murray serve, and only half of those on his own.

Rafa Nadal is zero for two in finals this year, losing the Acapulco title to a dominant serving Sam Querrey.  The unseeded American threw down 19 aces in a display not unlike that reserved for Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.

The efforts of Verdasco and Querrey have been reflected in the rankings, where both have jumped back into the top 30 - staying there guarantees a seeding for Roland Garros in a few months.

Also in Acapulco, Lesia Tsurenko, the Ukrainian seventh seed, won her third career title, and in doing so, defeated each of the top three seeds.  Her final victim was second seed Kristina Mladenovic, the St Petersburg champion from January.

Australian Ash Barty has won her first singles title, capturing the ALYA WTA Malaysian Open.  Barty took a 17 month break from tennis at age 18, but now only 12 months into her comeback, she appears happier on tour, and is beginning to realise the potential shown as the 2011 Junior Wimbledon Champion.

Her straight sets defeat of Nao Hibino lifts Ash to a career high ranking of 92.

Meanwhile rain delayed the finish of the Brasil Open in São Paulo by a day, with Pablo Cuevas eventually coming from a set down against Albert Ramos-Vinolas to win for the third consecutive year. 

Albert joined Fernando and Rafa as defeated Spanish finalists.

Barty in 1st final - Kyrgios misfires

An Australian has won through to a final but it's not Nick Kyrgios.

The Malaysian Open is the scene for Ash Barty's first chance at a WTA title, and she has won her spot in the final by firstly surviving a qualifying match before ousting four main draw opponents, losing just the one set along the way.

Not only will Barty be eyeing a huge singles breakthrough, but her doubles partnership with Casey Dellacqua is once again proving among the best in the world, the pair qualifying for the final in Kuala Lumpur.  So it's been a busy and successful week for the brightest female prospect in Australian tennis.

Admittedly Ash has avoided any seeded players in the draw, but she has advanced further than the players who knocked out the likes of Carla Suarez Navarro and Caroline Garcia, so there is nothing to suggest that the Aussie could not have done likewise if necessary.

Barty will play the winner of the Magda Linette and Nao Hibino semi final.  She has never met Linette in a tour match before, and her only clash with Hibino was in 2013 in Tokyo, the Australian winning in straight sets.

Meanwhile in Acapulco, it appeared that Nick Kyrgios was set for a showdown with Rafa Nadal in the final, the Spanish second seed already there via a comprehensive victory over Marin Cilic.

Having broken the big Sam Querrey serve a second time to grab the first set, Kyrgios had all the running.

However, his concentration lapsed when ahead in his first service game of the second set.  Querrey seized the unexpected opportunity and broke for a 2-0 lead.  Kyrgios held in the third game but after that was a disaster.  Four straight games for Sam, and importantly breaking the Australian serve to win the set and be serving first in the decider.

Kyrgios was back on track and matched the American, with service breaks not even looking a remote chance.  The one break point which Kyrgios somehow managed to find on a Querrey serve was dealt with smartly, and Nick didn't face one at all - until serving at 5-6 when serving to stay in the match for a second time.

Out of nowhere 0-40, and a total misjudgement on the first match point saw Sam Querrey into the final.

Querrey has now beaten David Goffin, defending champion Dominic Thiem, and Nick Kyrgios, to reach the Nadal face off.  He must be rated a fair chance of taking the title.  Nadal hasn't won a hard court title for three years but has won this tournament in 2005 and 2013.

Kyrgios serves up a storm

I am a Novak Djokovic fan and so was disappointed to see him bow out of the Acapulco tournament at the quarter final stage.  However, always wanting to see great tennis, and being Australian, the disappointment is mitigated somewhat.

Yes it was Nick Kyrgios who handed the world number two his marching orders in their first ever meeting, and although I have consistently supported Nick's tennis brilliance, it has been difficult because he compromises his prodigious talent with unnecessary immature contributions.

Not this match.  Here was all the talent for all to see, against the best returner of serve, along with Agassi, in the modern era.  Serious Kyrgios, serving with a confidence eerily bringing back memories of Sampras.  There were several impressive things to take out of the win for the Australian, not least the fact that he defeated Djokovic playing well.

The best player in the world absorbed the pressure of 25 Kyrgios aces in two sets, and plenty of  exhilarating winners, to hold his own serve comfortably throughout - almost.

Novak wilted twice under the pressure - in the first set tie break where a double fault was the only outright mistake from the Australian racquet and the last game of the match where the Serb was broken to love.  

The only shot which failed Kyrgios was the drop shot which Djokovic punished on every occasion, but it mattered not.

Kyrgios can beat anyone when he is mentally switched on.  

There remains the "If only..." with a number of matters, and one of these surrounds finding and keeping a coach/mentor.  Someone to help deal with distractions, because Nick has yet to prove he can handle the spotlight properly singlehanded.

A win against Sam Querrey in the semi final would give Nick Kyrgios the chance to play Rafa Nadal for his first ATP 500 series title.

At the moment he is leading by a set but down two service breaks in the second, and needing to refocus quickly.

Novak over Delpo in three

Novak Djokovic, like Andy Murray in Dubai, has had to go the distance in his latest match in Acapulco. 

As many predicted, the second round encounter with Juan Martin del Potro was a crowd pleaser, with the Argentine opening in style.  His ability to pressure the world number two, as he had done in their previous meeting at the Rio Olympics, showed on the scoreboard, with two breaks of an inconsistent Serb serve in the opening set.

Djokovic returned well in the second set, and was able to use his array of winning ground strokes to full effect, nullifying the punishing del Potro forehand to a fair degree.  At a set all, the momentum was with Djokovic, and even when it switched back to del Potro in the decider, 4-3 with a break, the top seed didn't panic, instead lifting the level of tennis in order to sweep the final three games, breaking the Argentine serve twice in the process.

Djokovic earned a quarter final with Nick Kyrgios, the first match between the two, and a great chance for the Australian to learn some more, this time from the very best.

Kyrgios had a much easier path to the final eight,  dismissing Donald Young in two quick sets.

The winner will play the survivor of a quarter final between fourth seed Dominic Thiem and unseeded Sam Querrey, the latter having upset David Goffin in a second round crushing.

The other semi final will feature third seed Marin Cilic, who received a walkover from Steve Johnson, and his opponent is likely to be Rafa Nadal, the second seed taking the opening set against Yoshihito Nishioka, the conqueror of Jack Sock.

Murray survives a big scare

Dubai has turned into the Andy Murray benefit, with the best credentialed opposition falling all around him.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Stan Wawrinka had departed the scene, and his exit was deemed so fashionable that fifth seed Tomas Berdych and sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut decided to follow his lead by losing second round matches to Robin Haase and Fernando Verdasco respectively.

Gael Monfils (4) remained the sole seed in the quarter finals in that section but he blew his chance with Verdasco continuing his charge in straight sets.

Haase and Verdasco are semi final opponents.

The biggest upset however was reserved for the great Roger Federer, fresh from his unexpected Aus Open triumph, and a comfortable first round win over Benoit Paire.  Having won the first set in quick time against Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy, ranked 116, Federer trashed three match points en route to losing the second set tie breaker and let a 5-1 lead in the deciding third set tie break slip. Donskoy amazingly won the final six points of the breaker to leave Federer baffled, and having to add another current player to the list of those with which he trails head to head.  Nadal, Djokovic, Donskoy - an imposing trio.

Murray has reached the semis without playing a seeded player, Gilles Muller stumbling at the first hurdle, but Phillipp Kohlschreiber has played as if ranked much higher than his current 29.

The quarter final with Murray should have gone the way of the German number two, after he won the first set and had seven match points in the second.  However Murray knows how to extract himself from difficulty, and the elongated second set tie break which was resolved 20-18, turned the match dramatically.  In fact it broke Kohlschreiber - Murray raced through the final set and will play seventh seed Lucas Pouille for a spot in the final.

Andy and Novak are back

The top two men's players in the world are back in action but in different parts of the world.  With them are the Aus Open finalists.  Together they comprise what many once called the Big Four.

Acapulco, Mexico is alive with the presence of Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.  The two greats have enriched the Abierto Mexicano Telcel draw which also features Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Nick Kyrgios, Juan Martin del Potro and Jack Sock.

Thiem is fresh from winning in Rio de Janeiro, taking just two sets to finish off Pablo Carreno Busta in the final.  Jack Sock also won last week, although his title came without needing to lift a racquet, Milos Raonic withdrawing from the final through injury.

The shock for Sock came after winning the opening set of his first round match in Acapulco.  He won just three more games against 86th ranked Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka and instead of celebrating his return to the top twenty Jack is out of contention and remains in Mexico just to play doubles.

The other big names all won through to the second round where the match to watch above all the rest will be Djokovic v del Potro.

In Dubai, Andy Murray and Roger Federer are drawn to meet each other in the semi finals, but before that can happen some unfortunate lower ranked players will need to be removed from the reckoning.

Already Murray has taken just a small detour from his social activities to organise a farewell for Malek Jaziri 6-4 6-1, while Federer was happier once Benoit Paire left, 6-1 6-3 the exit orders.

Second seed Stan Wawrinka has been the spectacular departure from the UAE, losing his first round encounter to Damir Dzumhur in straight sets, barely offering any resistance in a forgettable second set display.

The Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco is a joint ATP/WTA show, and the WTA draw has Aus Open semi finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni as top seed.  Mirjana safely found a way into the second round, defeating Belinda Bencic, but Genie Bouchard was less fortunate, falling to Croatian-born Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

This was the first match in 13 months for Ajla, shoulder surgery having kept her on the sidelines.  Only a protected ranking allowed her entry into the tournament.

I'd suggest that on this occasion Ajla has upstaged her boyfriend Nick Kyrgios.