TennisSection previews the 2022 Indian Wells as Frances Tiafoe takes on Brandon Nakashima in the second round on Sunday, March 13th, 2022.
Frances Tiafoe will return to action after an indefinite break from the game. But he will have his hands full at Indian Wells as he opens up against countryman Brandon Nakashima, with a potential third-round match against Andrey Rublev on the horizon. Will Big Foe make a winning return?
Frances Tiafoe produced the best season of his career in 2021, winning 33 matches from a possible 57- the most he has garnered in a single season. He also won the sixth ATP Challenger Tour title of his career in Nottingham and went on to reach the finals in Vienna as a qualifier. Those results saw his ranking shoot up to inside the Top 30. But it has been a challenging few months of the new season, with Tiafoe winning just one match in 2022. Shortly after losing to Taylor Fritz in the second round of the Australian Open, Tiafoe announced that he would take an indefinite break from the game to rehabilitate form a persistent elbow injury. Indian Wells will mark his first tournament back since Melbourne.
Opponent Brandon Nakashima will look to benefit from Tiafoe’srecent absence and take of advantage of his countryman’s lack of playing time. Nakashima secured a fine win over World No. 66 Adrian Mannarino in his opening match. This is the secondstraight year that he has advanced into the second round at Indian Wells. Nakashima broke his French opponent four times in the match and won 81% of his first-serve points.
In tour-level meetings, Frances Tiafoe leads Brandon Nakashima 1-0 in their head-to-head. That match was played in Acapulco last season where Tiafoe was pushed to the absolute limit before he won in a dramatic third-set tiebreak. The odds are certainly stacked against the 24-year-old American this time. He has been recuperating for nearly two months, and this might just be a stretch too far for Tiafoe to reach. I’m backing Nakashima for the win.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Brandon Nakashima to win in straight sets.
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