5 men's matches to watch on day 4 of Indian Wells

[3] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

Stanislas Wawrinka returns to the pro tour for the first time since his Australian Open triumph today to a potentially tricky encounter against the fast serving Ivo Karlovic. Recently Karlovic has been in good form by beating Feliciano Lopez and Yen-Hsun Lu on route to the final at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis. He has also reached the quarter finals in Mexico last week before losing to surprised runner up Alexandr Dolgolpolov. Since 2006 these two has meet 4 times with Wawrinka leading 3-1. Their most recent match was last year at the US Open where Wawrinka was victorious in a close three sets match. Karlovic may be in good form lately but he will need to be at the very top of his game to cause a massive shock today. The only thing that could be to Karlovic's advantage is the Australian Open Champion's lack of recent match play.

Predicted result – Wawrinka wins 2-1

Lukas Rosol (CZE) V [5] Andy Murray (GBR)

Andy Murray begins his Indian Wells campaign against Lukas Rasol. Murray's best result so far in this tournament was runner up back in 2009. He will be hoping for a good run during the tournament to put some spice in to his very average season so far. This will be the first time that the two players have met. This is expected to be a straight forward match for Murray. Rosol has had two top 10 wins to his name which was his memorable 2011 wimbledon win over Rafael Nadal and former top 10 player Jürgen Melzer back in 2011.

Predicted result – Murray wins 2-0

[17] Kevin Anderson (RSA) V Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)

Since his win at the very beginning of the year in Brisbane. Lleyton Hewitt's performance has rapidly faded. With injury concerns playing on the Australian's mind following his withdrawal in the second round of Delray Beach due to a shoulder Injury last month. Fortunately during the tournament in the first round he produce a convincing three sets win over Matthew Ebden to settle him down. In round two he faces a hard task against 17^th seed Kevin Anderson. Anderson has made the finals of his past two tournament's in Acapulco and Delray Beach which has elevated him to a career ranking high of 18.There has only been one meet before between these two which was in 2011. On that occasion it was Hewitt who was victorious in three sets. This time round the momentum is without a doubt more towards Anderson with the question being how well will Hewitt's shoulder hold up? There is however a big incentive for Hewitt to win. If he succeeds he will record his 600^th tour win.

Predicted result – Anderson wins 2-1

[Q] Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) V [7] Roger Federer (SUI)

Roger Federer finally won his first title last week in Dubai after nearly a year (Halle, 2013). He was in sublime form last week playing spectacular tennis which at times which had been missing from his season last year. In Dubai the great Swiss player produced back to back wins over Navak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych. Federer will be hoping to continue his form and in his first match against Paul-Henri Mathieu, it shouldn't be too testing. 31 year old Mathieu has a 3-3 win-loss so far this season. During the tournament so far he has comfortably came through qualifying and enjoyed a first round win over follow qualifier Robby Ginepri 62 63. Federer has a dominant 6-0 head to head lead and it is widely expected that tonight will be his seventh.

Predicted results – Federer wins 2-0

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) V Radek Stepanek (CZE)

Defending champion Rafael Nadal opens up his title defence against former world number 8 (2006) Radek Stepanek. Stepanek has a 4-4 win-loss this year compared to Nadal's dominant 16-1. The two players has met 6 times before with victory going to Nadal on all occasions but the world number 1 has been force to three sets three times before. In the first round Stepanek endured a two hour 61 36 61 win over Denis Istomin. During the match the Czech was only broken once and produced no double faults. Despite this nobody is foreseeing a shock in this match.

Predicted result – Nadal win 2-0