By Chris Oddo | Monday March 4, 2019
Serena Williams has been handed a very tricky draw at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The two-time champion (1999, 2001), seeded 10th and tucked into the bottom half of the draw, could face Victoria Azarenka in the second-round after a first-round bye. Williams and Azarenka last met at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open, with Azarenka coming away with the title.
If Williams is successful against the Belarussian she could face Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round, seventh-seeded Kiki Bertens in the round of 16 and fourth-seeded Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals (if seeds hold).
All of that just to reach the semis!
Williams also had a very difficult draw at this year's Australian Open. She faced Eugenie Bouchard in the second round and Dayana Yastremska in the third, before facing then World No.1 Simona Halep in the round of 16. Williams passed all those tests but eventually fell to Karolina Pliskova when she squandered four match points and a 5-1 lead in the third set in their quarter-final encounter.
In an interesting twist on the top half of the draw, defending champion Naomi Osaka could face Kristina Mladenovic in the second round after her opening-round bye. Mladenovic defeated Osaka 6-3 6-3 at Dubai in the World No.1's only match since she claimed the Aussie Open title in January.
Osaka parted ways with longtime coach Sascha Bajin last month and has recently paired up with Jermaine Jenkins.
Osaka could potentially face 25th-seeded American Danielle Collins in the third round and either 23rd-seeded Belinda Bencic or 13th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the round of 16 if the seeds hold.
Here are the full BNP Paribas Open draws:
All 32 seeds receive a first-round bye at Indian Wells, and there can be no all-seeded matchups until round three.
Two of the best first-round matchups will occur in the lower half of the draw, where Sonya Kenin and Wang Yafan will play a rematch of Saturday’s Abierto Mexicano Telcel final, won by Wang in three sets, and Daria Gavrilova will meet Dayana Yastremska in a first-time meeting.
Another interesting first-rounder features 17-year-old wild card Amanda Anisimova against Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia. Anisimova, ranked 67, became the youngest player to reach the round of 16 at Indian Wells since 2005 last year, and she also snapped Petra Kvitova’s 14-match winning streak.
Venus Williams will face Andrea Petkovic in her opener, and the 38-year-old American would face third-seeded Petra Kvitova if she advances.
If the seeds hold the round of 16 would shape up as follows:
And the quarterfinals would shape up like this:
Main draw action for women’s singles will begin on Wednesday at Indian Wells.
The men’s singles draw will be held on Tuesday at 3PM Pacific, and main draw action for men’s singles will begin on Thursday at Indian Wells.