Second-round action continues on Day 4 of the BNP Paribas Open. Elena Rybakina and Sofia Kenin will square off in the tournament's second meeting of Grand Slam champions, while World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Bianca Andreescu could set up a marquee third-round clash. Emma Raducanu, Victoria Azarenka and Ons Jabeur are all also in action.
Here are the top five picks from the packed order of play.
More from Indian Wells: Scores | Order of play | Swiatek and the top seeds | Draw analysis | Swiatek tuning out expectations | Swinging freely key for Stearns | Memorable WTA moments | Fifty years of global evolution
Indian Wells Round 2 action: Sabalenka rolls past Rodina | Sakkari scores first win over Rogers | Gauff returns to third round | Ostapenko, Krejcikova, Kvitova advance
[10] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) vs. [WC] Sofia Kenin (USA)
Head-to-head: Rybakina leads 1-0
The last time Elena Rybakina played Sofia Kenin, she was an unseeded up-and-comer scoring an upset over a reigning Slam champion. In Kenin's first match following her 2020 Australian Open title run, she ran into a surging Rybakina. The Kazakh won 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of Dubai and went on to her fourth final that year.
Now, it's Rybakina who's the reigning Wimbledon champion; in a parallel with Kenin, she backed up her first major title by making a second Slam final within the next 12 months. The 23-year-old's runner-up showing at the Australian Open solidified her position in the Top 10, but her last tournament in Dubai was ended by a low back injury forcing Rybakina to withdraw.
2023 highlights: Rybakina d. Swiatek, Australian Open R4 | Rybakina d. Pliskova, Abu Dhabi R2 | Kenin d. Samsonova, Doha R1 | Kenin d. Stephens, Indian Wells R1
Kenin's comeback from last year's ankle injury has shown promise so far in 2023. The American reached the Hobart semifinals in January, and scored a quality win over Sloane Stephens in the first round this week. A victory over a second straight major champion would also be Kenin's first Top 10 win since upsetting then-World No.1 Ashleigh Barty in the 2020 Australian Open semifinals.
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs. Claire Liu (USA)
Head-to-head: Swiatek leads 1-0
In 2018, Iga Swiatek succeeded Claire Liu as Wimbledon junior champion. Just over five months later, she made her WTA qualifying debut at Auckland 2019, and defeated the American 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Four years later, she's a three-time major winner and dominant World No.1 at the age of 21. Swiatek arrives in Indian Wells looking for the third successful title defence of her career (following Rome 2022 and Doha 2023).
There have been a couple of minor dents in the Pole's aura of invincibility recently. Barbora Krejcikova ended her 10-match winning streak in finals last autumn in Ostrava, and repeated the feat in Dubai. She had no answer to Elena Rybakina's serve at the Australian Open. But it still takes something special to stop her, as her remarkable title run in Doha for the loss of five games in three matches demonstrates.
2023 highlights: Liu d. Schmiedlova, Indian Wells R1
Liu took longer to establish herself in the Top 100, but the 22-year-old has been steadily hitting milestones. She reached her first WTA final in Rabat last May, and her first Top 10 win over Ons Jabeur in Monastir last October suggests that her net-focused style can trouble top players. However, an upset here would be seismic.
[WC] Peyton Stearns (USA) vs. [32] Bianca Andreescu (CAN)
Head-to-head: 0-0
Another former Indian Wells champion is projected to face Swiatek in the third round -- 2019 winner Bianca Andreescu. Since returning to the tour last May, the Canadian's results have been mixed: flashes of her 2019 form and a sixth WTA final in Bad Homburg last June, but no title and a 2-7 record against the Top 10. More worryingly, a shoulder injury ended Andreescu's Hua Hin campaign in the semifinals a month ago, and still seemed to trouble her during a pair of first-round exits in Doha and Dubai.
'Go big or go home': Swinging freely the key for Stearns
Andreescu will need to be on guard against a player whose profile may be low at the moment, but whose trajectory suggests that won't be the case for long. University of Texas alumna Peyton Stearns turned pro last June, and has rocketed up to No.126 already. She's won 34 of her past 40 matches since September, including a maiden WTA quarterfinal in her third main draw last week in Austin.
2023 highlights: Andreescu d. Muguruza, Adelaide 1 R1 | Andreescu d. Kostyuk, Hua Hin QF | Stearns d. Bjorklund, Austin R2 | Stearns d. Masarova, Indian Wells R1
Stearns possesses easy power off both wings and a formidable serve, both of which were in evidence as she took out Auckland finalist Rebeka Masarova in the first round. The American wild card will be a stern test for Andreescu.
Head to Head
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[20] Magda Linette (POL) vs. Emma Raducanu (GBR)
Head-to-head: Raducanu leads 1-0
Emma Raducanu's lead-up to Indian Wells was beset by illness (tonsillitis) and injury (a reported flare-up of a wrist issue), but the 2021 US Open champion shrugged both off to deliver an efficient straight-sets win over Danka Kovinic in the first round.
Magda Linette, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in January, sould pose a tougher challenge. But the Pole, who is now seeking to crack the Top 20, has not replicated that form since. She's 2-2 since Australia, with one of those wins coming from match point down against Camila Osorio in Merida, and the other via retirement. As top seed in Austin last week, Linette fell to eventual finalist Varvara Gracheva in her opener.
2023 highlights: Linette d. Pliskova, Australian Open QF | Raducanu d. Kovinic, Indian Wells R1
Raducanu's only previous meeting with Linette was a 6-2, 6-2 win in last September's Seoul quarterfinals, the penultimate tournament of her 2022 season before the wrist injury forced her to end it early.
Linette and Raducanu are in the same section of the draw as Swiatek and Andreescu, and could meet either of those former Indian Wells champions in the fourth round.
Karolina Muchova (CZE) vs. [14] Victoria Azarenka
Head-to-head: Azarenka leads 1-0
Victoria Azarenka owns the most accomplished history at Indian Wells of any player in the field. The 33-year-old lifted the trophy in 2012 and 2016, the latter run as the first leg of the Sunshine Double, and was also runner-up in 2021. This season has been resurgent for the former World No.1, who returned to the Australian Open semifinals in January after a 10-year gap.
Muchova pulls off tweener-lob in Dubai
Azarenka's only previous meeting with Karolina Muchova was a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over the Czech at the 2020 US Open. After battling multiple injuries last year, Muchova returned to the Top 100 last month after reaching the Dubai quarterfinals; during both that run and her first-round win over Yulia Putintseva, the former World No.19 was able to showcase some dazzling shotmaking.
Also in action
No.4 seed Ons Jabeur makes her return from the knee surgery that forced her out of last month's Middle East swing. The 2021 semifinalist starts against lucky loser Magdalena Frech.
No.5 seed Caroline Garcia opens against lucky loser Dalma Galfi, who notched a career-best win over Danielle Collins in the first round. Garcia has been runner-up twice in 2023, in Lyon and Monterrey.
No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina, the 2018 runner-up, squares off against Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria for the first time in a clash that promises crafty rallies and heavy use of the slice.
No.21 seed Paula Badosa, the 2021 champion, faces Spanish compatriot Nuria Parrizas Diaz. The last time the pair played was a decade ago: in the week she turned 16, Badosa won 7-5, 7-5 in the 2013 Sant Jordi ITF $10K semifinals en route to the first professional title of her career.
No.30 seed Leylah Fernandez faces wild card Emma Navarro in a rematch of the 2019 Roland Garros girls' final, which Fernandez won 6-3, 6-2.
