Daniil Medvedev and Tommy Paul will meet at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, and only one of them will make it to the final of the event.
Reaching the semi-finals of the season's first ATP Masters 1000 event could be considered a success for both players, even though, according to the ranking, it's Paul who should be more delighted by making it to the final four.
He was in the part of the draw where Novak Djokovic played, but since the 24-time major winner was stunned by Luca Nardi, the American's path to the semi-finals opened up, and he used it perfectly.
On the other hand, Medvedev had a very difficult draw, despite being the fourth seed, as he had to fight his way past Sebastian Korda, Grigor Dimitrov, and also in-form Holger Rune. He did, and that's why he'll play in the semi-finals.
The two have played only two matches on the ATP Tour so far, but they could be indicative of what may happen in this matchup as the Russian won both, and quite comfortably, even on clay.
Medvedev hates to play on clay, still, he beat Paul on it in 2021 at the Roland Garros in four sets. When they played on the hard courts in Beijing last year, it was even more convincing win as the former world no. 1 won 6-2, 6-1.
| Daniil Medvedev | Tommy Paul | |
| 2 | H2H | 0 |
| 4 | Rank | 17 |
| 28 | Age | 26 |
| 13-2 | 2024 W/L | 14-4 |
| 347-138 | Career W/L | 146-110 |
Medvedev should clearly have the upper hand in this match. He managed to beat a very strong opposition at the event, and in the past, he proved that he can easily beat his opponent.
To repeat that, he'll need to battle also against the home crowd, but he's shown many times in his career that that's not a challenge for him.
Prediction: Daniil Medvedev to win in two sets.