INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - The BNP Paribas Open doubles draw is out and it appears to be a wide open field, as the on-paper favorites and No.1 seeds - Cara Black and Liezel Huber - have had a surprising lack of success here.
Black and Huber, who have already won two titles in 2010 to give them 29 in their careers together, lost in the round of 16 in their two previous appearances here as a duo. In fact, neither has been beyond the quarterfinals with any partner. A possible match-up with No.7 seeds and three-time Sony Ericsson WTA Tour titlists Chuang Chia-Jung and Hsieh Su-Wei looms in the quarters. After that, No.4 seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs could be their semifinal opponents.
Raymond and Stubbs are the only previous Indian Wells title-winning duo in the field and lead the field with 32 Tour titles together. However, they have not advanced past the semis of an event in 2010, their first year playing together since 2005. Raymond is looking to make some individual history, as her six Indian Wells doubles titles is tied for most all-time with Lindsay Davenport.
Second-seeded Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez are the most dominant team on the bottom half of the draw. However, the Spaniards - who lost in the semis last year in their only previous appearance here - have had an up and down year so far, with Dubai their only title. A final four clash with their semifinal victims in Dubai - third-seeded Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur - is a possibility.
The bottom half of the draw also contains several unseeded teams that could be dangerous, especially Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The Czechs are the only duo besides Black and Huber with multiple titles in 2010, having won in Paris [Indoors] and just last week in Monterrey. Another Czech team, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, won their fourth career Tour title together earlier this year in Brisbane. Yet another Czech, Lucie Safarova - was awarded a wildcard alongside Russian Vera Zvonareva. They have only played together in one previous event, but Zvonareva is a defending champ here, having won in 2009 with Victoria Azarenka.
