A star-studded field will kick off the Sunshine Swing in Indian Wells. Defending champion Iga Swiatek and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka lead the entry list for next month’s BNP Paribas Open.
Swiatek aims to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles in Indian Wells since Martina Navratilova in 1990-91.
The entire Top 10 in the WTA rankings is entered in the second WTA 1000 of 2023, including No. 3 Ons Jabeur, who announced earlier this week that she’d be missing both Doha and Dubai, the first WTA 1000 of the season, after “minor surgery.”
Looking to become the first American female singles champion at Indian Wells since 2001, home hopes will rest squarely on the shoulders of No. 4 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Coco Gauff, while 2022 finalist Maria Sakkari and 2018 runner-up Daria Kasatkina are also expected to be among the Top 10 seeds.
Other notable names to earn direct entry at Tuesday’s announcement include former champions Bianca Andreescu, Victoria Azarenka and Paula Badosa.
2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu was also announced by the tournament as a wild-card entry. Currently ranked No. 80, Raducanu is outside the ranking cutoff for direct entry at the WTA 1000 event. She reached the second round in her tournament debut in 2021 and made the third round last year.
The Brit is first expected to return to U.S. soil a week prior to Indian Wells at the inaugural WTA 250 event in Austin, Texas.
The BNP Paribas Open begins on March 6 and runs through March 19.