{"id":458444,"date":"2026-03-05T06:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458444\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T06:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:46:13","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-vs-jannik-sinner-novak-djokovic-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458444\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Main draw action at the 2026 Indian Wells Open will get underway on Wednesday, but who will lift the men\u2019s singles title in Tennis Paradise?<\/p>\n<p>Jack Draper is the reigning champion, having defeated Holger Rune in the 2025 Indian Wells men\u2019s singles championship match.<\/p>\n<p>Rune is one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/indian-wells-2026-withdrawal-list-grand-slam-winner-dubai-medvedev-rublev-khachanov\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">10 men who has withdrawn from the ATP Masters 1000 tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here, we make our predictions for the Indian Wells men\u2019s singles draw.<\/p>\n<p>First quarter<\/p>\n<p>Projected QF: Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Alex de Minaur (6)<\/p>\n<p>World No 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/carlos-alcaraz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> holds a perfect 12-0 record in 2026 after he won the Australian Open and the Qatar Open.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-time major champion enjoys the Indian Wells conditions, having secured the title in 2023 and 2024, and he could meet Arthur Rinderknech in the third round before a possible fourth round meeting with Casper Ruud.<\/p>\n<p>Sixth seed Alex de Minaur and 10th seed Alexander Bublik could face Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Quarter-final prediction: Alcaraz defeats de Minaur<\/p>\n<p>Second quarter<\/p>\n<p>Projected QF: Novak Djokovic (3) vs Taylor Fritz (7)<\/p>\n<p>Novak Djokovic, who is seeded third, is playing his first event since losing to Alcaraz in the Australian Open final over a month ago.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old legend secured the last of his five Indian Wells crowns in 2016, and he could play Corentin Moutet in the third round before a potential last 16 blockbuster with 14th seed and defending champion Draper.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic\u2019s possible quarter-final opponents include Taylor Fritz, who won Indian Wells in 2022, and two-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev, whose participation is uncertain after he was unable to travel from Dubai on a flight.<\/p>\n<p>Quarter-final prediction: Djokovic defeats Fritz<\/p>\n<p>ATP Tour News<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/tim-henman-carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-dominance-problem-not-appealing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tim Henman suggests Carlos Alcaraz &amp; Jannik Sinner\u2019s dominance could become \u2018unappealing\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/indian-wells-open-daniil-medvedev-and-andrey-rublev-dubai-options-described-as-awful-by-former-world-no-8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indian Wells Open: Medvedev and Rublev in \u2018tough\u2019 situation amid \u2018awful\u2019 options to flee Dubai<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n<p>Third quarter<\/p>\n<p>Projected QF: Alexander Zverev (4) vs Lorenzo Musetti (5)<\/p>\n<p>World No 4 Alexander Zverev fell in the second round at the Mexican Open in his only event since his epic Australian Open semi-final loss to Alcaraz.<\/p>\n<p>The German could play Matteo Berrettini in his first match and Brandon Nakashima in the third round before a potentially intriguing fourth round clash with Flavio Cobolli or Frances Tiafoe.<\/p>\n<p>Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti has not played since a leg injury ended his Australian Open campaign when he was leading in his quarter-final match with Djokovic.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian could be set for a third round encounter with the dangerous 30th seed Arthur Fils \u2014 who has impressed since returning to the tour last month from a back injury.<\/p>\n<p>Either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Andrey Rublev \u2014 whose presence is not guaranteed \u2014 could await Musetti or Fils in the last 16.<\/p>\n<p>Quarter-final prediction: Zverev defeats Fils<\/p>\n<p>Fourth quarter<\/p>\n<p>Projected QF: Jannik Sinner (2) vs Ben Shelton (8)<\/p>\n<p>Second seed Jannik Sinner is looking to reach his first final of 2026 after a semi-final exit at the Australian Open and a quarter-final loss in Doha.<\/p>\n<p>The four-time Slam champion could play Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round before a possible last 16 clash with Karen Khachanov (whose participation is in doubt) or Tommy Paul.<\/p>\n<p>No 8 seed Ben Shelton is projected to face Sinner in the quarter-finals, but the American may need to navigate tricky matchups with Learner Tien in the third round and Jakub Mensik in the fourth round.<\/p>\n<p>Quarter-final prediction: Sinner defeats Shelton<\/p>\n<p>Semi-final and Final Predictions<\/p>\n<p>Semi-finals:<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz defeats Djokovic in 2 sets\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sinner defeats Zverev in 3 sets\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Final:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz defeats Sinner in 3 sets\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/gael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer? Gael Monfils gives \u2018number one\u2019 verdict<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main draw action at the 2026 Indian Wells Open will get underway on Wednesday, but who will lift&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-458444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}