Carlos Alcaraz won his first match at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, and he will try to make it two in a row against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Alcaraz is the reigning champion, having rolled past everybody at this event last year. The dominant win over Daniil Medvedev in the final still echoes pretty strongly in the minds of many.
His first match back this year wasn't as impressive, but he got the job done against Matteo Arnaldi in three sets. Up next is Auger-Aliassime, a solid player, so Alcaraz will need to take this match very seriously.
The conditions favor Alcaraz well, but there are still a lot of question marks regarding his level and health, so let's just see how this unfolds.
Head-to-head:
Alcaraz and Auger-Aliassime have played a few times so far. They actually played one of their matches in Indian Wells last year. It was a 6-4, 6-4 win for Alcaraz, who obviously ended up winning the ATP Masters 1000 event overall.
The other three matches generally favored Auger-Aliasime, but this can be explained. He's not the better player overall, but he was quite lucky in some of them. For example, the Davis Cup match came days after Alcaraz won the US Open, and he was pretty drained by then.
| Carlos Alcaraz | Auger-Aliassime | |
| 1 | H2H | 3 |
| 2 | Rank | 31 |
| 20 | Age | 23 |
| 6-3 | 2024 W/L | 6-6 |
| 161-46 | Career W/L | 189-28 |
Prediction:
In any case, there is a rather clear track record in favor of the Spaniard. Neither has played spectacularly this year, but it's clear that Alcaraz is the better player and is far closer to winning this match.
There are plenty of question marks regarding his level and fitness, but if we assume that he's fine, then a win for him shouldn't really be questioned.
Prediction: Carlos Alcaraz to win in three sets.
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