Andy Murray will look to go one step further than his finals appearance last year.

Andy Murray is currently the second favorite to win in Indian Wells over the next week and half. 

The event is already underway as the qualifying matches are being played and the ATP Indian Wells event, which may be refered to as the BNP Paribas Open, is one of the larger tournaments on the ATP tour as only the Grand Slams are bigger.  At this point none of the favorites have played a match as they will all open in the round of 64 later this week.

Here are the top 8 favorites on the men's side of the draw with the best prices that are staff found included (ranked according to odds, not ATP ranking or seed):

1.  Roger Federer, +225 (9/4), go to bet365.
2.  Andy Murray, +400 (4/1), go to Sky Bet.
3.  Novak Djokovic, +600 (6/1), go to Blue Square.
4.  Rafael Nadal, +650 (13/2), go to Coral.

5.  Nikolay Davydenko, +1400 (14/1), go to Stan James.
6.  Marin Cilic, +1600 (16/1), go to Paddy Power.
7.  Andy Roddick, +2000 (20/1), go to Sky Bet.
8.  Robin Soderling, +2500 (25/1), go to Paddy Power.

Andy Murray has a fairly easy draw through to the round of 16 at which point David Ferrer, who has been sharp lately, or Ivo Karlovic should be waiting.  With a bye through the first round, expect the following draw for Murray to the quarterfinals.

Round of 64: vs Andreas Seppi (Italy)

Murray has a career loss to Seppi however that was back when the Scot was still a teenager.  In their two most recent matches, both from 2009, Murray was victorious on hard court, the same surface that the Indian Wells event will be played on. 

Murray wins in straight sets in this match.

Round of 32: vs Igor Andreev (Russia)

Andreev and Murray have never played one another, however Murray is clearly the better player.  Andreev, ranked 38th in the world, had Roger Federer's attention in the first round of the Australian Open as he, Andreev, took the first set (1 of only 2 sets Fed lost in Melbourne).  However when Andreev had critical opportunities to build on his lead, like the non-top 10 player that he is, Andreev simply blew his chances with unforced errors on easy shots - even for break point.

Andreev is cold on tour as the best player he has defeated in 2010 is Pablo Cuevas who was ranked 50th at the time of their match.

Andreev presents no threat to Murray so long as the Scot doesn't beat himself.

Round of 16: vs David Ferrer (Spain)

Andy Murray would NOT be a lock against David Ferrer (+10000 bet365) as the Spaniard has been sharp lately.  Ferrer and Murray are 1-1 against one another but both matches are from 2006 (Murray won their only hard court match).

The reason Ferrer can be considered dangerous at this point is because he has been going deep into draws on some of the lesser tournaments.  In his most recent events Ferrer made the semis of Johannesburg (l. to Stephane Robert), he made the finals of Bueno Aires (l. to Ferrero), and he won a title in Acapulco (d. Ferrero).

Ferrer also has a recent victory over Stanislas Wawrinka and he, Ferrer, has a 7 match winning streak going.

However all of those results are clay court results and Ferrer's play should be notably worse on hard courts, which would give Murray a big edge in the match.  Ferrer crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round and that result is certainly a better indicator of how he will do in Indian Wells.

It's fair to say that Ferrer might not survive the aces that may come off the serve of Ivo Karlovic, but Karlovic is another player that Murray should handle if they face one another.

Quarterfinals Onward

The quarterfinals onward could go Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic and you would like Murray in all of those matches. 

One thing to keep in mind with Federer is that while he holds three of four Grand Slam titles at the moment he doesn't do exceptionally well in the 1000 series tournaments.  During 2009 Federer contested 8 Masters Series 1000 tournaments and only took down 2 titles, a winning percentage that makes odds of +225 (9/4) look pretty short.

While Federer did win Cincinnati and Madrid in 2009 take a look at these other results:

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome: Semifinals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami: Semifinals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells: Semifinals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada: Quarterfinals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo: Round of 16
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris: Round of 32

There's nothing unusual at all about Federer dropping a match in a Masters 1000 Series event and while Murray only has 2 Masters Series titles from 2009 as well (Canada and Miami) he did make the finals in Indian Wells last year and his odds are long enough to justify the risk at +400 (4/1) or +350 (7/2) with bet365.

Murray is the top recommendation to win at Indian Wells.

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2. Click on Sports > Live Streaming > Tennis
3. Watch Indian Wells for free

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