The action at Indian Wells — a.k.a. tennis’ “fifth Grand Slam” — continues on Friday afternoon and among the smattering of matches is a terrific contest between up-and-comer Jiri Lehecka and world No. 7 Andrey Rublev. 

Lehecka, a 21- year-old from the Czech Republic, burst on the scene in 2023 with a run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and a trip to the semifinals in Qatar — where he beat Rublev in the quarterfinals. 

But it’s also been a decent start to the campaign for Rublev. The 27-year-old Russian made the quarters at the Aussie and was a runner-up in Dubai last week.

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Getting a bye should be helpful for Rublev, and he’s playing doubles on Thursday, so he should have a handle on the conditions.

But he just played a ton of tennis and then traveled across the world in five days for what will be one of the toughest draws of any seeded player in this tournament. 

Lehecka already showed he can handle the unique conditions at Indian Wells with a straight-set victory over Arthur Rinderknech and should provide a sturdy test for Rublev, who could be dealing with some fatigue after playing a lot of tennis all over the world the past month.

With the way Lehecka has played and the fact that he’s already got a match under his belt at Indian Wells, this number looks more than playable on the up-and-comer.