Can Roger Federer complete another Sunshine Double in 2018?

#3 Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem is all set to take on the Masters event at Inidan Wells

World No. 6 and fifth seed at the Indian Wells, Dominic Thiem is not really a hard courter. Having said this, the 24-year-old Austrian cannot be totally left out of contention.

Forced to retire at the Qatar Open early this year due to a fever, the outing thereafter in Melbourne too was a bitter one for Thiem. Falling to Tennys Sandgen in the Round of 16 in five sets was a tough loss to bear.

But relief came in Buenos Aires when the Austrian clinched his first title of the season with the Argentina Open victory.

The quarter-final loss at the Rio Open against 8th seed Verdasco with hardly any games in his bag and a score of 4-6 0-6 underlined Thiem's woes once again.

In Acapulco, the unseeded Cameron Norrie, whose Davis Cup heroics are doing the rounds, managed to stretch the World no. 6 to three sets before bowing out. A worrisome scenario but the Austrian went on to tame the Canadian rising star Denis Shapovalov in the next round and eventually falling to the Argentine Juan Martian Delpotro with a tough fight in the quarterfinals.

Not been very convincing, Thiem will nonetheless look to barge in Indian wells and hope to go deep into the tournament.