Indian Wells WTA draw preview

Missing three of the world’s top five players would be the cause of great concern for any tournament director. However, when you have three of the biggest names in tennis participating in your tournament for the first time in several years, the situation starts to look rosy again.
The prestigious BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells – a Premier Mandatory event on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour calendar – will be without the Serena and Venus Williams (ranked No.1 and No. 5 respectively) as well as World No. 2 Dinara Safina, who continues to suffer from a back injury. Third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova will be the tournament’s top seed.
Indian Wells has endured the continued boycott of the Williams sisters, who bring global status and interest to any event they play. Venus and Serena have not returned to the Californian desert since they allegedly received racial abuse from fans during the 2001 event.
But this year’s edition will enjoy an injection of star power that will be sure to reinvigorate the interest of fans and media alike. Missing from the singles draw last year due to a shoulder ailment, Maria Sharapova enters the event as the No. 10 seed and in good form after her recent triumph in Memphis. Also returning are Belgian superstars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, who this time last year were both in retirement from professional tennis. It is the first time Clijsters is playing at Indian Wells since winning the title as an unseeded player returning from injury in 2005. Henin has not played at the event since 2006.
Joining Sharapova, Clijsters and Henin will be the cream of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour crop vying to win on one of the game’s biggest stages and take home the handsome winner’s cheque. Let’s examine how the draw may take shape.
THE TOP SEEDS AND BIG NAMES
Kuznetsova’s march to the title could hit a snag in the fourth round, where she is projected to meet No. 14 seed Clijsters. In eight meetings with the Belgian former World No. 1, Kuznetsova has won just once. As is the case for all 32 seeds, No. 1 seed Kuznetsova will receive a first-round bye and will kick off her campaign in the second round against either France’s Alize Cornet or Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro. The winner of the anticipated Kuznetsova-Clijsters showdown is drawn to meet Serbian No. 6 seed Jelena Jankovic, who has experienced a less-than impressive start to the season.
At the opposite end of the draw, No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki has been dealt a reasonable hand. Should she overcome projected third round opponent Maria Kirilenko (a 2010 Australian Open quarterfinalist), another Melbourne Park quarterfinalist, No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova, could await her in the Round of 16. A meeting with No. 7 seed Li Na or Sharapova is expected for the quarterfinals.
Belarusian young gun Victoria Azarenka is the No. 3 seed, and enters the event following a run to the final in Dubai two weeks ago. Her projected fourth round opponent is No. 13 seed Yanina Wickmayer, who has enjoyed a blistering start to 2010 with 13 wins and just three losses. However, Wickmayer must get past No. 21 seed and last week’s Monterrey finalist Daniela Hantuchova. Azarenka is drawn to meet ever-improving Australian Sam Stosur in the quarterfinals, who sits in a loaded section of the draw featuring defending champion Vera Zvonareva, No. 24 seed Ana Ivanovic, and Monterrey winner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Rounding out the top four seeds is evergreen Russian Elena Dementieva. She will be thankful for a relatively unthreatening draw, with her biggest threat – technically at least – coming in the form of projected quarterfinal opponent, No. 5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. However, she is more likely to come up against the unranked Henin, who has been awarded a wildcard into the event. Henin is slated to meet Radwanska in the third round, and should the Belgian and Dementieva progress to the final eight, it would set up a rematch of their spectacular Australian Open battle on Rod Laver Arena.
Clijsters and Henin sit in opposite halves of the draw, meaning another final between these great rivals is a possibility, and an extremely exciting prospect given the standard of their dual in Brisbane in January.
THE AMERICANS
There are six Americans participating in this event on home soil, three of which – Alexa Glatch, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Christina McHale – are wildcards. McHale faces off against compatriot Vania King in the first round, with the winner to meet Wozniacki in round two. Glatch has drawn a qualifier in her opening match and will face Li if she passes that test, while Mattek-Sands (who was ranked as high as No. 37 this time last year but now sits at No. 133) will play Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan before a possible meeting with in-form Israeli Shahar Peer, the No. 17 seed.
Veteran Jill Craybas will meet big-hitting No. 22 seed Sabine Lisicki in the second round should she get by Greek wildcard Eleni Daniilidou. Promising youngster Melanie Oudin faces Italian net-rusher Roberta Vinci, with a second-round meeting with Hantuchova awaiting the winner.
THE AUSTRALIANS
Stosur is Australia’s great hope, seeded in the top eight of a major event for the first time in her career. Poised on the verge of the Top 10 (at World No. 11), Stosur faces either France’s Julie Coin or wildcard Tamira Paszek in the second round, before a projected third-round battle against the in-form Pavlyuchenkova. Should she beat the young Russian, her fourth round opponent is seeded to be either Zvonareva (No. 12) or Ivanovic (No. 24).
Alicia Molik has been granted a wildcard, and will continue her return to the tour following retirement against German Tatjana Malek. A meeting with No. 29 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues will be the reward for the winner. Meanwhile, fellow Aussie Jelena Dokic will be looking to turn around her dismal start to 2010 in her first round match against Russian Vera Dushevina. The winner faces the daunting prospect of a match with Sharapova.
THE OTHERS
Canada’s No. 1 player Aleksandra Wozniak is seeded No. 30 and will face either Belgian Kirsten Flipkens or Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky. Unfortunately, her run may stop after that – she is projected to meet Dementieva in round three. Great Britain’s sole representative comes in the form of World No. 123 Anne Keothavong, a semifinalist in Memphis. Her first round opponent is former World No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze, with the winner drawn to meet Agnieszka Radwanska.
Women’s main draw matches at the BNP Paribas Open begin on Wednesday 10 March.
 

Matt Trollope