A German will be in the fourth round of Indian Wells with countrymen Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Zverev facing off. As you would expect, Zverev leads the head to head with 5 wins out of 5. However, it will be the first time the pair have met on hard courts after all the previous coming on clay.

A win for Struff could well see him nudge closer to beating his career high ranking of 44. He has two more round 1 exits to improve on following this tournament, including in Miami. The draw was kind to him this fortnight with matches against John Millman and Ricardas Berankis representing a generous route to round three for an unheeded player.

Zverev was dominant against Martin Klizan in the previous round before the Slovakian had to retire at 6-3 2-0. It was a comfortable start as he looks to take his good form in Acapulco further.

With a comfy record against Struff, it’s likely that Zverev will be looking ahead to tougher matches including a likely fourth round with Milos Raonic. The Canadian has got the better of him on the previous two occasions although both came in grand slams where Zverev has not managing to hit the heights that his best of there form promises.

Prediction – Alexander Zverev in straight sets