What's at stake for Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev as the two lock horns in Indian Wells final for 2nd straight year

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev will compete in the first ATP 1000 final of the year at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open, and whoever wins the title will tick off many major career milestones.

Carlos Alcaraz is the No. 2 seed at the Indian Wells Masters this year and the defending champion. While he has achieved many incredible feats in his young career, such as two Grand Slam titles, the Spaniard is amidst a dry spell on the tour. He hasn't won a title since the 2023 Wimbledon Championships in July.

The BNP Paribas Open will be the second final the 20-year-old will contest since his Wimbledon triumph (2023 Western & Southern Open was the first). If he defends his title in Palm Springs, Alcaraz will not only end his trophy drought but will also become the first player not named Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic to defend the Indian Wells title since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both five-time champions of the Indian Wells Masters. The Swiss won titles in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, and 2017, and the Serb triumphed in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Daniil Medvedev's title drought is even longer than Alcaraz's. The Russian's last title came at the ATP 1000 Italian Open in May 2023. He has since lost in the finals of the 2023 US Open, the 2023 China Open, the 2023 Erste Bank Open in Vienna, and the 2024 Australian Open.

If he wins at Indian Wells, Medvedev, a self-proclaimed hard-court specialist, would become the only active player, apart from Djokovic, to win all six hard-court Masters titles, having been the trophy holder at the 2019 Western & Southern Open, 2019 Shanghai Masters, 2020 Paris Masters, 2021 Canadian Open, and the 2023 Miami Open.

Moreover, Danill Medvedev will also become the third active player alongside Djokovic and Andy Murray to win seven out of the nine ATP 1000 titles.

Carlos Alcaraz leads Daniil Medvedev in head-to-head contest

Carlos Alcaraz

For the second year in a row, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev will face each other in the final of the Indian Wells Masters. This will be the sixth tour-level meeting between the two men, with the Spaniard leading the head-to-head, 3-2. Of their four matches last year, Alcaraz won three times - Indian Wells, Wimbledon Championships, and ATP Finals.

At the 2024 Indian Wells Masters, Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak in Palm Springs to 11 matches. He bettered Matteo Arnaldi, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Fabian Marozsan, Alexander Zverev, and Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz looked dejected after going a set down against Sinner. However, he stormed back from behind to win the match, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, and end the Italian's 16-match winning streak.

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev is seeded No. 4 and has defeated Roberto Carballes Baena, Sebastian Korda, Grigor Dimitrov, Holger Rune, and Tommy Paul so far. Like Alcaraz, Medvedev also came back from a set down against Paul in the semifinal. The 28-year-old lost the first set in the blink of an eye but mounted a solid comeback to nick the second set tiebreak and then ran away with the third set to win the contest, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.