Where did Venus Williams land in BNP Paribas Open women's draw?
All 96 players from top seeds to wild cards to qualifiers were placed in the BNP Paribas Open women’s draw Monday in a ceremony outside Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the event featured the orchestrator of one of the wildest wild-card runs ever.
The 2019 BNP Paribas Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who authored a remarkable run from unknown wild card entry to the BNP Paribas Open title as a 19-year-old, and then won the U.S. Open the same year was on hand to the delight of the crowd.
Andreescu said she re-watches her BNP Paribas Open run in 2019 often, to remember to play with care-free abandon like she did back then.
“And who knows? I was a wild-card back then and I’m a wild-card this year, so we’ll see what happens,” she said.
But as the draw was revealed she didn’t exactly catch a break with her position as you will see as we take a deeper dive into the women’s draw.
Venus Williams lined up for All-American clash
One of the obvious points of interest was to see where the 45-year-old tennis icon Venus Williams would fall in the draw and there was a soft gasp as the bracket was filled in. Williams’ first match is against a qualifier, and if she can win that one she will face compatriot Madison Keys, the No. 15 seed in high-interest second-round match.
Williams, who will also play doubles at Indian Wells this year with Leylah Fernandez, does not treat these wild-card entries as just a farewell tour she’s been putting up a fight of late. Tournament organizers are no doubt hoping she tops the qualifier she’ll face to set up a primo Friday or Saturday second-round matchup.
Other enticing potential early-round matchups in the women’s field
- Bianca Andreescu vs. Coco Gauff: Not sure which player should feel more bummed out by this matchup. While other seeded players are lined up to play qualifiers, Gauff’s first match of the tournament could very well be against a major champion in Andreescu. Similarly, Andreescu might have had a deep run in mind, but now knows she’ll need to upset the world’s No. 4 player just to get out of the first weekend. The fans are the only winners in this juicy matchup.
- Emma Raducanu vs. Amanda Anisimova: This potential third-round match between the 25th-seeded Raducanu and No. 6 seed Anisimova would be an eclectic matchup of diverse styles, with the athletic ability of Raducanu vs. the power of Anisimova. Remember, Anisimova made two Grand Slam finals last year, but she’s never won an event as prestigious as this one would be.
- Naomi Osaka vs. Caty McNally/Eva Lys: Whoever Naomi Osaka, the No. 16 seed, faces in her first match of the tournament it will be must-see tennis. Osaka vs. McNally would be an interesting collision as the young American is trying to rack up more and more quality wins as she climbs the ranking. And Lys, who is short on the number of letters in her name, but not short on showmanship. Lys is a talented German player who was born in the Ukraine, and has a robust and personality-filled social media presence.
Did Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek catch a break with the women’s draw?
While the potential early round matchups are fun to talk about, it’s often the now-clear end-game matchups that the draw reveals that are most impactful on who wins. Let’s take a look and see if No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or No. 2 Iga Swiatek got the better part of the draw.
- Sabalenka: Would face No. 6 Anisimova in the quarterfinals and the winner of Gauff (No. 4) and Jasmine Paolini (No. 7) in the quarterfinals.
- Swiatek: She would face No. 8 and defending champ Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals and the winner of No. 3 Elena Rybakina and No. 5 Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.
Neither of those sounds like a fun path, but I’ll give an edge to Sabalenka, just because I think the Australian Open champ Rybakina and defending BNP champ Andreeva are primed for these conditions.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Where did Venus Williams land in BNP Paribas Open women’s draw?
