Who has toughest route in men's draw at Indian Wells Open as Road to Final set

Through the night, the draw was set for the 2025 Indian Wells Open which will begin on March 5 and sees Alexander Zverev as top seed this time around. He faces a tough route through if he wants to seal the title.

As well as the opening draws, the route through for the top names was also set with a potential Novak Djokovic v Carlos Alcaraz Quarter-Final. As ever these routes are hypothetical with any manner of scenarios set to happen.

Zverev as top seed opens up likely against Tallon Griekspoor. He is then slated to face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard before a likely meeting with either Tomas Machac or Frances Tiafoe. A Quarter-Final with either Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini or Holger Rune is set.

Before he then faces Daniil Medvedev or Casper Ruud. Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic or Taylor Fritz could feasibly await in the final. Alcaraz on the other hand likely opens up against Quentin Halys.

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Denis Shapovalov is likely his first tough opponent in the third round before Grigor Dimitrov is encountered in Round Four. Like alluded to we likely get Novak Djokovic in the Quarter-Final before Taylor Fritz likely dodges his nemesis Djokovic to face Alcaraz instead.

The issue of course being for tennis fans is that Djokovic is the spoiler. He is not a high enough seed to avoid his fellow big names so is always slated to meet them. Jannik Sinner also not being involved also throws a spanner in the works as his ban for Clostebol made the Alcaraz v Djokovic conundrum a certainty.

But will Djokovic even make it that far? He faces likely Nick Kyrgios first before taking on Francisco Cerundolo or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Alex de Minaur or Hubert Hurkacz would await in the Last 16 before Alcaraz or DImitrov. Then it would get easier with Rublev or Fritz but then the final would be Zverev, Ruud or Dimitrov. So him even getting to that tie with Alcaraz will be a tricky one. An interesting few weeks await in Indian Wells.

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