Three to See, Indian Wells Day 6: Hurkacz vs. Paul; Rune vs. Wawrinka; Swiatek vs. Andreescu

WATCH: Iga Swiatek stopped by the Tennis Channel desk after she dropped just one game against Claire Liu in the second round.

Tommy Paul vs. Hubert Hurkacz

How real was Paul’s semifinal run at the Australian Open? Chalk this up as another test of that question. Two weeks in Acapulco, Paul passed one of those tests when he fought off cramps to beat Taylor Fritz in the semifinals, but then narrowly failed another when he let Alex de Minaur come back from a set down to beat him in the final.

Paul is ranked 19th right now, and Hurkacz is No. 11, so this is another chance for the American to take a step forward. It won’t be easy. Hurkacz leads their head-to-head 1-0, and he’s having a solidly Hubi-like season—title in Montpellier, fourth round at the Australian Open. Paul may need some help from the Court 2 fans, and a better-than-normal performance, to get over this hump. But that’s what Grand Slam semifinalists are supposed to do.

Winner: Hurkacz

Holger Rune vs. Stan Wawrinka

If you’re looking for beef, this is the place to go. In their only previous encounter, at Bercy last fall, the teenage Rune beat the 30-something Wawrinka in a third-set tiebreaker. When they met at the net for the handshake, Wawrinka told the always-animated Rune to stop acting like a “baby.” Then the Rune clan accused Wawrinka of being a sore loser.

Rune doesn’t seem like a let-bygones-be-bygones kind of guy, so this one could be spicy. Rune, who is ranked 92 spots higher than Wawrinka and is having a good season, is the favorite. But is he a heavy favorite, or a slight one? Wawrinka is 37 now, and has made half a dozen comebacks from injuries, if not more, over the years.

But he’s also coming here after a couple of quarterfinal appearances, and he recorded a good win over Miomir Kecmanovic this week. Maybe the chance for a little revenge on Monday will get him another?

Winner: Wawrinka

Iga Swiatek vs. Bianca Andreescu

Swiatek is 21 and Andreescu is 22, but they can seem like players from different eras.

Andreescu was the star of 2019, rocketing out of obscurity to win Indian Wells, Rogers Cup, and the US Open. But since then injuries have sent her to the sidelines over and over again, and she has yet to return to those stratospheric heights; she’s currently ranked 36th. Swiatek was an even bigger star in 2022, winning Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, and two majors and finishing No. 1. Now she’s trying to avoid any hint of an Andreescu-like fall to earth.

The two have played once, on clay in Rome last year, and Swiatek won in two sets. Hard courts suit Andreescu better and Swiatek, perhaps, a little worse. The Canadian surely sees this as a major opportunity to get a crack at the world No. 1, in a location she loves. She has the firepower to slug with Swiatek, and the variety to disrupt her.

We’ll see if Andreescu has the confidence to make those attributes work; she hasn’t won many matches this year. Meanwhile, Swiatek is showing signs of going back into ultra-dominance mode, the way she did in the desert a year ago.

Winner: Swiatek