INDIAN WELLS DRAW: GAUFF EYES POTENTIAL OPENER VS. RADUCANU
WTA/Jimmie48
WTA Staff
The draw is out for the Hologic WTA Tour’s third WTA 1000 event of the year, where the best players in the world have descended on the BNP Paribas Open in search of one of the most prized trophies. The weather has been cool in the Southern California desert, but it won’t take long for things to heat up this week in Indian Wells.
Everything you need to know about Indian Wells 2025
Main-draw play begins on Wednesday, March 5 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The first round will be played across the first two days of the tournament. The Top 32 seeds have received first-round byes.
Top seeds: [1] Aryna Sabalenka, [6] Jasmine Paolini, [12] Daria Kasatkina, [16] Beatriz Haddad Maia
Notable first rounds: Sloane Stephens vs. Sofia Kenin, Anna Blinkova vs. McCartney Kessler
The story of the 2025 WTA season has been the surprises. The three biggest tournaments have crowned inspired and unexpected champions. Madison Keys scored a seismic upset at the Australian Open over No. 1 Sabalenka to win her first major title, and in the Middle East it was Mirra Andreeva and Amanda Anisimova joining the ranks of WTA 1000 champions.
Can the top seeds wrench back control in California?
Top seed Sabalenka leads the first quarter and will open against either Austin finalist McCartney Kessler or Anna Blinkova.
Top seeds: [3] Coco Gauff, [5] Madison Keys, [10] Emma Navarro, [13] Diana Shnaider
Notable first rounds: Emma Raducanu vs. Moyuka Uchijima, Belinda Bencic vs. Tatjana Maria
It’s been an outstanding start to the year for the American contingent. Gauff led things off by leading Team USA to the United Cup title, Keys won in Adelaide and Melbourne, Anisimova was the standout in Doha, and Pegula and Navarro come into Indian Wells fresh off titles in Austin and Merida, respectively. The result? The U.S. holds three of the Top 5 spots on the PIF WTA Rankings.
Gauff, Keys, Navarro and Anisimova have all landed in the second quarter of the draw. It is Keys’ first tournament since winning the Australian Open in January.
Gauff will face either 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu or Moyuka Uchijima in the second round. Anisimova could face a particularly tough opener if Abu Dhabi champion Bencic gets past Tatjana Maria in the first round.
Top seeds: [4] Jessica Pegula, [7] Elena Rybakina, [9] Mirra Andreeva, [14] Danielle Collins
Notable first rounds: Camila Osorio vs. Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova vs. Varvara Gracheva
Fresh off a confident run to her first title of the year in Austin, Pegula leads the third quarter along with 2023 champion Rybakina and Dubai champion Andreeva.
The intrigue in this quarter lies in two first-round duels. 2018 champion and former No. 1 Osaka is playing her first tournament since the Australian Open, where she retired from her third-round match against Bencic with an abdominal injury. She’s drawn a quality opponent in Colombia’s gritty and athletic Osorio. The winner of that match will face Dubai finalist Clara Tauson.
Petra Kvitova last played Indian Wells in 2023 and the fan-favorite Czech is back for the first time since her maternity leave. Kvitova nearly won her comeback match last week in Austin, falling in three sets to Jodie Burrage in the first round. Now she’ll take on Varvara Gracheva, with the winner to face Andreeva.
Top seeds: [2] Iga Swiatek, [8] Zheng Qinwen, [11] Paula Badosa, [15] Karolina Muchova
Notable first rounds: Caroline Garcia vs. Bernarda Pera
The last quarter features defending champion Swiatek, who is trying to become the first woman to win Indian Wells three times. She could see a tricky opener against France’s Caroline Garcia, who opens against Bernarda Pera. Ons Jabeur could be waiting in the third round.
This section also sees Olympic champion Zheng, who will be reunited with Pere Riba. The Spanish coach has been sidelined since November after undergoing surgery but is set to rejoin the team this week. That’s good news for Zheng, who has struggled to find her form and momentum to start the year. She could face two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the second round.
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Gauff goes down to the wire to fend off Uchijima in Indian Wells
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Emma Raducanu vs. Moyuka Uchijima: Where to Watch, Indian Wells Preview, Betting Odds
Whomever wins this match between players close in ranking will face Coco Gauff.
Published Mar 06, 2025
🖥️📱 Click here for live coverage on TennisChannel.com (United States only; estimated start time 4:00 p.m. ET)
The winner of this match will face Coco Gauff in the second round.
👉 Click here for the complete Indian Wells bracket.
Second up in Stadium 1 is another match between two players who are close in ranking—Uchijima is 52, Raducanu 55. But those numbers don’t reveal much about the direction these two women are taking. Raducanu, the younger of the two at 22, had a meteoric rise to Grand Slam fame four years ago in New York, but has been treading injury-plagued waters ever since. Uchijima, while she is older at 23, appears to be coming into her own in 2025. She nearly beat Mirra Andreeva at the Australian Open, she upset Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai, and her ranking of 52 is a career high.
Still, Raducanu won their only meeting, three years ago, and she played some credible tennis in Dubai, beating Maria Sakkari and losing a close two-setter to Karolina Muchova. Raducanu likes a stage; if she wins this match, she’ll get a big one against Coco Gauff. Winner: Raducanu—Steve Tignor
👉 Click here for more news on the BNP Paribas Open.
Raducanu is a -235 moneyline favorite; Uchijima is a +180 underdog.
To win the tournament, Raducanu is +6600 and Uchijima +40000.
(Odds from BetMGM as of 10:15 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 6)
👉 Click here for more betting coverage on TENNIS.com
The Dutchman has now had victories over Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal AND Djokovic in the last seven months.
Published Mar 09, 2025
There have already been some major upsets on the men’s side at Indian Wells over the last few days, and now there’s one more name to add to the list, maybe the biggest name: Novak Djokovic.
The 40-time Masters 1000 champion was ousted in his opening match in tennis paradise on Saturday, falling in three sets to giant-killing Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Van de Zandschulp has now had wins over three of the biggest names in tennis in the last seven months, having defeated Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the second round of the US Open last August and Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the Davis Cup Finals last November.
His win over Nadal turned out to be the Spaniard’s final match.
Djokovic has now lost his last three matches in a row, having fallen in the semifinals of the Australian Open (by retirement) and in the first round of Doha. It’s his first three-match losing streak since 2018.
More to come…
Van de Zandschulp’s victory over the No. 7-ranked Djokovic was the eighth Top 10 win of his career.
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BNP Paribas Open: Coco Gauff leads American women looking to make Indian Wells history
Coco Gauff won’t turn 21 until March 13 yet she’s already won a Grand Slam singles title and currently ranks third in the world in the WTA.
One thing she hasn’t done yet is win the BNP Paribas Open. No American woman has since Serena Williams did it in 2001.
In 2022, Taylor Fritz became the first American man to win the event since Andre Agassi 21 years earlier.
Gauff reached the semifinals last year and the quarterfinals the year before. Though the women’s draw is stacked with accomplished talent, Gauff has to be considered a favorite to win the Indian Wells tournament.
It’s staggering to think that if Gauff were to win it, she’d be the first American woman to win it in her lifetime.
“Every year they love to remind us of that stat when we compete,” Gauff said Tuesday with a smile. “We’re all like, who’s it going to be?”
Gauff has a first round bye and will take the court for the first time Saturday, against either Emma Raducanu of Great Britain or Moyuka Uchijima of Japan, presumably on Stadium Court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
With Gauff, Australian Open champion Madison Keys (ranked fifth) and Jessica Pegula (fourth) ranked inside the top five, it marks the first time since 2003 that three American women are in the top five. There’s 17 American women ranked inside the top 100.
“There might be a nice little breakthrough for an American player this year to potentially go very far,” BNP Paribas Open tournament director Tommy Haas said. “Madison Keys is one to watch for. Obviously Coco as well. She’s always one to watch out for, and Jessica Pegula as well.”
It’s a great time for American women in professional tennis.
It may be impossible to pinpoint exactly what is working, but there’s a camaraderie between the players that isn’t always typical of players representing the same country in tennis.
“There’s just a really great group of women right now who, I think when we see each other do well, we’re not only extremely excited for them,” Keys said Tuesday. “But with the support and kind of we’re all being cheerleaders with each other, I think it just helps push all of us to continue to have some really good success.”
Gauff echoed those comments, saying that the American women push each other and that every time one of them wins a big tournament or even comes close, it inspires the others.
“You see one win a tournament and you also want to do that,” Gauff said.
Though Keys is coming off an Australian Open victory and is surely entering Indian Wells with the confidence that comes from winning a Grand Slam, Gauff may still be the player to watch. She already has the confidence and charisma that often doesn’t come until later in a player’s career, yet she still has a humility about her that keeps her grounded.
Gauff arrived in Indian Wells after attending the Oscars on Sunday in Los Angeles where she met celebrities such as Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and Ben Stiller, yet said that she was surprised by how many people knew of and recognized her.
Even more will know who she is if she becomes the first American woman in 24 years to win Indian Wells.
“I was in the semis last year so I was hoping it would be me,” she said. “Hopefully, this year we can, and if it’s not me, hopefully it’s an American.
“Taylor was the last American in general to win. So hopefully we can maybe do a double and have a woman and male win. That would be cool.”
Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
