By Chris Oddo | Monday March 6, 2017
Tricky Draws abound for many top women’s singles players at this year’s BNP Paribas Open. The draw was held early on Monday evening at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden before a crowd of spectators who cheered for their favorites and hoped to get a picture with CiCi Bellis and Jelena Jankovic.
See the Complete BNP Paribas Open Women's Singles Draw Here
Top-seeded and World No.1 Serena Williams could face last year’s Olympic champion Monica Puig after her first-round bye. Second-seeded Angelique Kerber, who could reclaim the No.1 ranking at Indian Wells, could face Andrea Petkovic in her second round match.
Kerber will return to No.1 if Williams fails to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells. Williams is defending final points while Kerber was upset in the second round by Denisa Allertova last year.
The projected quarterfinals, if the seeds hold (which they never do), will play out as follows.
[1] Serena Williams vs. [7] Garbine Muguruza
[3] Karolina Pliskova vs. [8] Svetlana Kuznetsova
[5] Dominika Cibulkova vs. [4] Simona Halep
[6] Agnieszka Radwanska vs. [2] Angelique Kerber
Of the top eight seeds, Radwanska could have the most difficult path to the second week. She could face Ekaterina Makarova in the second round, No.31-seeded Ana Konjuh in the third round and either No.12-seeded Venus Williams or No.20-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe in the round of 16.
No.9-seeded Madison Keys will make her long awaited season debut, and will face either Daria Kasatkina or Taylor Townsend in the first round. Kasatkina, 19, is defending quarterfinal points from last season. No.7-seeded Muguruza will face either Kirsten Flipkens or 17-year-old American CiCi Bellis in her second round match.
Here’s a list of intriguing second-round matchups, courtesy of @WTAInsider:
Main draw play on the women’s side begins on Wednesday.