See below for our daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Friday March 7 at Indian Wells, including the top tips and players to back in our tennis betting markets!
Qinwen Zheng v Victoria Azarenka
5.00am
Back Azarenka to Cover the Games Handicap (+3.5) @ $1.95
Eighth seed Qinwen Zheng is a $1.40 favourite to overcome two-time champion Victoria Azarenka at the Indian Wells Masters.
But Zheng will have to overcome a 0-2 record against Azarenka, who took out their 2023 Adelaide International and 2024 Miami Masters clashes in straight sets.
Azarenka won this tournament in 2012 and 2016, while she reached the final in 2021. The former world No.1, currently ranked 35th, kicked this campaign off with a 6-4 7-6 win over Clervie Ngounoue.
It’s been an otherwise modest start to 2025 for the 35-year-old, though; her only other win over note was against Anhelina Kalinina in Dubai, before going down to Iga Swiatek 6-0 6-2.
Zheng, meanwhile, has been unable to reproduce the form that took her to the Australian Open final, Olympic gold and the final of the WTA Finals last year. She is 1-3, losing to Laura Siegemund at the AO, Ons Jabeur in Doha and Peyton Stearns in Dubai.
Zheng has not been past the second round at Indian Wells and looks underdone coming into a showdown with a player of Azarenka’s class and experience.
Ons Jabeur v Dayana Yastremska
5.00am
Back Over 21.5 Total Games @ $1.85
Ons Jabeur and Dayana Yastremska meet for the first time in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.
Former world No.2 Jabeur is ranked 32nd after an injury-interrupted run, but she has made a solid 11-6 start to 2025 with recent quarter-final appearances at the Abu Dhabi and Qatar Opens, beating the likes of Jelena Ostapenko and Qinwen Zheng.
But the Tunisian was upset by Peyton Stearns first up at the Dubai Tennis Championships last week.
World No.46 Yastremska accounted for Yue Yuan 6-2 6-4 in the first round on Thursday, carrying on the encouraging form that saw her reach the Linz Open final (with wins over Maria Sakkari and Clara Tauson) and the last 16 in Dubai (with wins over Magda Linette and Anastasia Potapova).
Jabeur reached the semis at Indian Wells in 2021 but has otherwise underwhelmed in her visits here. Yastremska has never been past the second round, while she has only been beyond the third round of a WTA 1000 event once – back in 2019.
There’s little between the duo in terms of recent form, however, and a tight contest looms.
Zizou Bergs v Alexei Popyrin
5.00am
Back Popyrin to Win @ $1.91
Struggling top-30 star Alexei Popyrin is the narrowest of outsiders heading into his opening Indian Wells Masters assignment against world No.53 Zizou Bergs.
Their only previous encounter was at the 2022 Ilkey Challenger, with Bergs winning in straight sets.
Coming off a brilliant 2024 season, Popyrin is 1-5 so far this year. He belatedly got off the mark with a win over Hady Habib in Dubai last week, before losing to Marin Cilic in the next round from a set up.
Bergs beat Ethan Quinn 7-6 6-3 in the first round on Indian Wells debut on Thursday. The Belgian has climbed to a career-high ranking after reaching the Auckland Open final as a qualifier and getting to the Open 13 semis.
Popyrin has never been beyond the second round at Indian Wells, but he won the Canadian Masters last year and showed enough signs of improvement in Dubai to back him against Bergs.
Matteo Berrettini v Christopher O’Connell
5.00am
SGM – Back Berrettini to Win and Set 1 Total Games Over 10.5 @ $3.30
Matteo Berrettini and Christopher O’Connell square off for the second time in nine days, this time in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.
Both the pair’s clashes to date were in the past six months, Berrettini winning 7-6 7-6 at the Shanghai Masters in October and 7-6 6-2 at the Dubai Tennis Championships last week. Berrettini sent 15 aces past O’Connell in Dubai and did not even offer up a break-point opportunity.
World N.29 Berrettini went on to lose to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals in three sets. A week earlier, he upset Novak Djokovic in Doha before going down to Jack Draper in the quarters.
Aussie O’Connell, ranked 75th, put away Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3 0-6 6-1 in the first round in Indian Wells on Thursday.
Berrettini has only been past the second round of an ATP 1000 event once since his fourth-round appearance at Indian Wells back in 2022, but his rocket serve is likely to be too much for O’Connell to handle again here.