Events / Ben Caudell / 13 March 2009 /

Ben Caudell is expecting wins for two young ladies with bright futures at Indian Wells today. Meanwhile, in the men's tournament, is a resurgent Mikhail Youzhny on his way back to the top 20?

There were few upsets in yesterdays men's draw, the only real surprising win to note was from the qualifier Thomaz Bellucci. He defeated Janko Tipsarevic ranked 46 in the world in three sets 5-7 7-5 6-2 and will now face one of my tips to do well in the tournament, Fernando Verdasco.

Unfortunately, both of yesterday's tips were unsuccessful with Ivan Lubicic and Marc Giquel winning in straight sets. Hopefully today will provide us with some fruitful pickings to improve our 50% overall success rate.

Today's Selections:

Sorana Cirstea v Elena Vesnina

Vesnina is a girl on the rise, she has started 2009 with a bang having already reached the final in Auckland, eventually losing to Elena Dementieva, the quarter-final of the Dubai Premier tournament, knocking out Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulkova, and a decent first round win over Sabine Lisicki at this week's BNP Paribas Open. She now faces Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the second round. Cirstea has shown the opposite form to Vesnina this year with losses in the first round of the four tournaments she has played in so far.

Selection: Back Elena Vesnina @ [1.4] to win match

Alona Bondarenko (UKR) v Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)

I used to be impressed with Alona's style of play and had high hopes for her to do well on the WTA Tour. She has previous wins over the likes of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, Ana Chakvetadze and Caroline Wozniaki all recorded around this time last year. However, since retiring during her second round match at last year's Wimbledon against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, she seems to have lost a lot of confidence and has yet to get past the round of 32 this year. Nicole Vaidisova is another player who has struggled with confidence recently but with a first round win against Michaella Krajicek and the return of her old coach Alex Codat, the future is starting to look a lot rosier for the young Czech.

Selection: Back Nicole Vaidisova @ 2.3 to win match

Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) v Viktor Troicki (SRB)

Youzhny's form is finally on the mend after a morale boosting win over Victor Hanescu in the Davis Cup and a quarter-final appearance in Marseille, on his way beating Andreas Seppi and Tomas Berdych. Hopefully we will start seeing the Youzhny of old again and with a decent run at Indian Wells this could kick-start his ascent back into the top 20. Expect this to be a close match with Youzhny the eventual winner.

Selection: Back Mikhail Youzhny @ [2.0] to win match

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