Some of the WTA’s biggest stars are set to return to action in Indian Wells after being absent for the majority of the Middle Eastern swing.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Świątek, the world’s two best players, both skipped the Dubai Tennis Championships; much to the dismay of the Dubai tournament director.
Both players are set to return in Indian Wells, and they will compete against the likes of Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina, who won her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
Mark Petchey, the new coach of Emma Raducanu, has chosen his favourite for the title.
Mark Petchey picks Jessica Pegula to win Indian Wells
Former US Open semi-finalist Coco Vandeweghe began the discussion on the Big T podcast, picking Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina as her favourite for the Indian Wells title.
“I think that top half is so stacked with Sabalenka, Anisimova, Gauff, Paolini,” she said. “So I am going bottom half is going to come through, because that is going to be such a blood bath.
“So I am going to go Rybakina. She has won here before, I think she is always a tough opponent out there on the hard courts and I think after coming off of the Australian Open.
“Are we forgetting she won the last Grand Slam?”
Mark Petchey, who recently re-joined Emma Raducanu’s coaching team on an informal basis, has chosen the American number two as his favourite in Indian Wells.
Petchey [pictured below] said: “I am really interested in the conditions. I am interested to see how the first couple of days here [play out] and how the conditions play in match.
“It’s one thing doing it in practice but with a different ball here I am very interested to see who this will suit.
“Jessica Pegula has played pretty well here in the past and made some deepish runs.
“I am thinking confidence goes a long way in conditions like this, that are very different, and if you come into this tournament and are feeling good about your tennis I think you can shove some of the uncertainty and intangibles to one side.
“So if I am going to pick one, it’s going to be from the bottom half, and it’s going to be Pegula.”
Brad Gilbert, the former coach of Andre Agassi and Coco Gauff, has identified a potential matchup that could determine the winner of the event.
He said: “I feel like the Rybakina and Pegula quarter and if they play each other in the quarters I feel like the winner of that will win the tournament.”
As seeded players at the event, both Rybakina and Pegula have received byes through to the second round
Rybakina, the third seed, will face Emiliana Arango or Hailey Baptiste in the second round.
Pegula, seeded fifth, will play Donna Vekic or Tereza Valentova.
The first Indian Wells Women’s Singles champion
In 1989, the Indian Wells Women’s Singles event was launched as a tier three event.
The tournament, held 15 years after the first men’s singles event, was won by Bulgarian player Manuela Maleeva.
Maleeva, seeded fourth at the event, defeated Gretchen Magers and Catarina Lindqvist to set up a quarter-final clash with Helen Sukova.
Sukova, of Czechia, is a four-time major singles runner-up, and won a total of ten singles titles and 69 doubles titles during her career.
Maleeva comfortably defeated her Czech opponent 6-2, 6-4, before dispatching Isabelle Demongeot in the last four.
In the final, Maleeva defeated qualifier Jenny Byrne 6-4, 6-1, winning her 10th title on the Tour.
Maleeva went on to win 19 career titles before her retirement in February 1994.