By Chris Oddo | Tuesday March 8, 2016

It has been fifteen years since Venus and Serena Williams have both played the BNP Paribas Open in the same year. But it may be only a few days until the pair of tennis icons squares off in what would be a must-see quarterfinal.

See the complete BNP Paribas Open women's singles draw here

Fans didn’t get the all-Williams matchup they coveted in 2001, when Venus famously pulled out of her semifinal with Serena due to injury and a regrettable scene ensued. Nobody got what they wanted on that fateful weekend in the desert, and the aftermath of that harrowing episode led to a 14-year long boycott by the sisters that was finally ended by Serena last year.

This year, Venus has elected to follow suit. The 35-year-old, who made her Indian Wells debut 20 years ago in 1996, penned a heartfelt piece in the Player’s Tribune last week, saying that she was inspired by Serena’s courage and was excited to return to the event.

“It was in that moment, seeing Serena welcomed with open arms last year at Indian Wells, that I think I fully and truly realized what being the big sister means,” Venus wrote. “It means that, for all of the things I did first, and all of the times when I paved the way for Serena, the thing I can be most proud of is this time. When Serena paved the way for me.”

All roads at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden are leading to the 28th Williams' meeting, but there will be much business to attend to if it is to happen.

Top-seeded Serena could face Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round, 27th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic in the third round and either 15th-seeded Sara Errani or 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the round of 16.

10th-seeded Venus Williams could face Teliana Pereira in the second round, 22nd-seeded Andrea Petkovic in the third round and 5th-seeded and defending champion Simona Halep in the round of 16.

Serena leads the head-to-head with Venus 16-11, and she has triumphed in their last two matchups, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015.

In the same half of the Williams' draw are third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska and eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova. Radwanska, a runner-up here in 2014, could face Dominika Cibulkova in a highly anticipated second-rounder, while Kvitova (2013 quarterfinalist, 9-6 lifetime at Indian Wells) could face Danka Kovinic or American wild card Samantha Crawford.

In the lower half of the draw, second-seeded Angelique Kerber (2012 semifinalist, 8-6 lifetime at Indian Wells) will play just her fourth match since winning the Australian Open. The German could face Denisa Allertova or Petra Cetkovska in the second round and 25th-seeded Johanna Konta in the third round.

If the seeds held Kerber would face 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic (2008 champion) in the round of 16 and sixth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza and seventh-seeded Belinda Bencic could face each other in one of the quarterfinals of the lower half if the seeds hold.

13th-seeded Victoria Azarenka (2012 champion, 20-6 lifetime) and 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina are also in that quarter of the draw.

Here are the quarterfinal matchups if the seeds hold:

[1] Serena Williams vs. [5] Simona Halep
[3] Radwanska vs. [8] Kvitova
[7] Bencic vs. [4] Muguruza
[2] Kerber vs. [6] Suarez Navarro