Tennis best bets for Day 2 of the action at Indian Wells
Tennis' "fifth major" is officially underway, as the 2023 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells began on Wednesday. This is one of the biggest tournaments on the tennis calendar, as all the stars try and make their way out to Tennis Paradise. With that in mind, you're going to want to try and soak in some of the action this week. VSiN will be proving tennis bettors with daily best bets, so make sure you keep coming back for some of our favorite tennis picks. We had four plays on Wednesday, but we're zeroed in on two tennis best bets for Thursday, March 9th. Find out what they are below.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have on March 9
Leandro Riedi vs. Jack Draper
Riedi looked impressive in getting through qualifiers here, and the Swiss player is 9-3 in all the matches he has played since the start of 2023. For the most part, Riedi has played in Challenger-level matches, but he does have wins over established players like Nicolas Jarry, Hugo Gaston, Jan-Lennard Struff and Arthur Rinderknech. Riedi also took Hubert Hurkacz to three sets in Marseille just a few weeks ago.
Riedi is just a confident young player that happens to have a big serve and some serious pop on his ground strokes. He's probably the worst draw Draper could have possibly gotten out of qualifiers. Riedi's pace will pretty much force Draper to move around a lot in this match, and it's unclear whether or not his body can handle that at this point. Draper had to retire from a match against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open and we haven't seen him since. And these conditions could give the Brit some trouble. That's why we're taking a chance on the 'dog in this spot.
Bet: Riedi ML (+135)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Andy Murray
Considering how similar Indian Wells is to a clay event, it's a little hard not to play Etcheverry in some capacity. The Argentinean is off to a great start to the 2023 season, as he is coming off a run all the way to the finals in Santiago. Etcheverry lost that match, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 2-6, against Nicolas Jarry, who was a massive hometown favorite. Had that match been anywhere else, Etcheverry likely would have come through in straight sets.
Etcheverry now takes his run of good clay-court form into a meeting with Murray, who rarely ever makes things easy on himself. Murray hasn't won a match in straight sets since October, when he earned a 7-5, 6-2 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Spain. Considering the legendary Brit's propensity for playing dramatic matches, it seems like a good idea to jump on the Over on Etcheverry's individual win total of 10.5. He's going to make Murray work for everything here.
Bet: Etcheverry Over 10.5 Games Won (-120)
Borna Gojo vs. Richard Gasquet
Gojo had to go through qualifiers to get into the main draw of this event, but that gave the Croatian some time to get used to these conditions. It also should give the 25-year-old some confidence heading into a matchup with Gasquet, who can't possibly be feeling great about his game. The 36-year-old is just 2-4 in his last four matches, with some of those defeats coming in matches he probably felt he should have won.
With the veteran not in great form right now, it just seems like the logical decision to back the younger player that is 13-6 since the start of 2023. A lot of those victories came at the Challenger level, but Gojo does have some notable wins this season. Gojo has already defeated Adrian Mannarino, Federico Coria, Dominic Thiem and Benoit Paire. If he can earn wins over those guys, he can certainly do so against this version of Gasquet. Gojo is also the far better server between the two, so he'll be the one winning easier points.
Bet: Gojo ML (-135)