Indian Wells Day 6 preview, order of play: Jabeur faces Collins, Andreescu's good vibes and more

There’s a lot at stake this week at the BNP Paribas Open, but Bianca Andreescu is trying to appreciate her lovely desert surroundings.

“I’ve been feeling really good the last couple of days,” she said after winning her second-round match. “I’ve been working hard, training very well and just enjoying Indian Wells. The hikes are gorgeous. The food is really good.

“It’s just good vibes out here.”

Indian Wells: Scores | Draws | Order of play

With the first two rounds complete, it’s about to get complicated regarding the qualifying for Guadalajara. In the Porsche Race to the WTA Finals, four have already qualified in singles: Ashleigh Barty, Aryna Sabalenka, Barbora Krejcikova and Karolina Pliskova. That leaves four spots.

Five of the top contenders have already lost – No.5 Maria Sakkari (3147 points), No.6 Garbine Muguruza (3141), No.10 Elise Mertens (2438), No.11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2385), and No.15 Emma Raducanu (2282). 

The following five players are still in the draw: No.7 Iga Swiatek (3106), No.9 Ons Jabeur (2685), No.12 Elina Svitolina (2382), No.13 Coco Gauff (2325) and No.14 Jessica Pegula (2286).

No.8 Naomi Osaka (2771) isn’t playing.

Got that? 

Here’s your loaded Monday card, featuring third-round matches from the top half of the draw:

[1] Karolina Pliskova vs. [LL] Beatriz Haddad Maia

With No.1 Barty and No.2 Sabalenka absent, Pliskova is the top seed at Indian Wells for the first time.

The 29-year-old from the Czech Republic was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over qualifier Magdalena Frech on Saturday and there are a lot of reasons to like her chances here.

For starters, Pliskova has reached the Indian Wells quarterfinals in her past four appearances and sports an overall record of 19-6. Oh, and she’s been on fire lately. There were final appearances at Wimbledon and Cincinnati and a run to the quarters at the US Open.

Haddad Maia, ranked No.115, defeated Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-0. This, after losing to the No.189-ranked Usue Maitane Arconada in the final round of qualifying. She entered the main draw when No.29 seed Nadia Podoroska withdrew.

Head-to head: 1-0, Pliskova, the second round of the 2018 Australian Open in a match won 6-1, 6-1.

[18] Anett Kontaveit vs. [16] Bianca Andreescu

After an unprecedented break of 31 months, Andreescu is still undefeated at Indian Wells. The 2019 champion is now 8-0.

The second-round match required 2 hours, 49 minutes, but Andreescu eventually overcame Alison Riske 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2.

Afterward, she showed little emotion – or was that merely relief?

“A little bit of both,” Andreescu said in her post-match press conference. “I can be really hard on myself sometimes. I felt like during the match I was just getting too upset. I think it was more of relief because it was tough, it was hard. I’m tired. I’m not going to lie.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to waste energy letting it out. I just took deep breaths. I’m glad it didn’t show.”

Highlights: Andreescu d. Riske

It may take more of the same against Kontaveit. The 25-year-old Estonian advanced when qualifier Martina Trevisan retired trailing 6-3, 5-2.

Kontaveit has played terrific tennis of late, winning the titles in Cleveland and Ostrava. Her September run in the Czech Republic was virtually flawless. She beat Sorana Cirstea, Paula Badosa, Belinda Bencic, Petra Kvitova and Maria Sakkari – all seeded at Indian Wells – and didn’t lose a set.

She had won 13 of her past 14 matches when she made the decision to withdraw from last week’s second-round match in Chicago.

“I did play her on grass this year,” Andreescu noted. “I know it’s a different surface, so things can go either way because both of us have very suitable hard court game styles. I think it’s going to be a good match.”

Head-to head: 2-0, Kontaveit (2019 Miami, 2021 Eastbourne).

[12] Ons Jabeur vs. [22] Danielle Collins

This should be a good one.

Jabeur defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3. Collins advanced when fellow American Lauren Davis retired after losing the first set 6-1. 

Highlights: Jabeur d. Sevastova

The 27-year-old from Tunisia won four matches a week ago in Chicago before falling to Garbiñe Muguruza in the final; she won her first singles title earlier this year at Birmingham.

Collins also captured her maiden title this year, in Palermo, and immediately backed it up with her second, in San Jose.

Head-to head: 1-0, Collins, a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 fourth-round win at Roland Garros one year ago.

[Q] Anna Kalinskaya vs. Viktorija Golubic

If the seeds had held, it would have been No.6 Maria Sakkari against No.28 Sara Sorribes Tormo. This being the unpredictable beast that is professional tennis, neither player prevailed in the second round.

Golubic, who is ranked No.46, upset Sakkari 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 for her first completed win over a Top 10 player. It was also her second win ever at Indian Wells, following an impressive first-round victory over Marketa Vondrousova, and continues a career-best season in which the Swiss player also reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, as well as finals in Lyon and Monterrey.

Highlights: Kalinskaya d. Sorribes Tormo | Golubic d. Sakkari

Kalinskaya surprised Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. The 22-year-old Russian is ranked No.151 and entered Indian Wells 20-20 for the year in singles. American hard courts are clearly where she thrives: she also reached the third round of Miami in March, the only other time she has won consecutive WTA main draw matches this season. Kalinskaya's sole WTA semifinal run also came at Washington 2019.

Head-to head: 2-0, Golubic, most recently this year in the Monterrey quarterfinals.

[3] Barbora Krejcikova vs. Amanda Anisimova

Based strictly on rankings, this might not seem like much of a contest, but with these gritty hardcourts playing like the red clay of Roland Garros, both players are more than comfortable in the desert.

It was here in 2018 as a wildcard that Anisimova produced her first WTA main-draw victory. And then she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Petra Kvitova on the way to the fourth round – as a 16-year-old. 

“I had a really good year that year,” Anisimova said in a Tennis Channel interview. “I made it far, and that was the first big tournament that I broke through at. So it was really special for me, and to be back here is really exciting.”

Highlights: Krejcikova d. Diyas | Anisimova d. Giorgi
 
As a 17-year-old, Anisimova reached the semifinals of the 2019 French Open, losing to eventual champion Ashleigh Barty. Her father, Konstantin, died in 2020 and she contracted COVID-19 in January 2021. Since then, she’s been trying to build herself back up towards a career-high ranking of No.21 – 60 spots above where she now finds herself.

Anisimova throttled No.30 Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-1 in a second-round match. She’s dropped only seven games in four sets.

“They’re pretty slow,” Anisimova said of the Indian Wells courts. “I think it fits me because I like to have more time on my shots.”

Krejcikova managed to get past Zarina Diyas 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

The current French Open champion and Olympic gold medalist is playing her first Indian Wells and Anisimova will be further uncharted territory.

Head-to head: 0-0.

[21] Paula Badosa vs. [15] Coco Gauff

For a while there, Gauff was the teenager of her time. Then Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez reached the US Open final.

But Gauff, even though it feels like she’s been around for quite some time, is still the youngest player ranked in the Top 300. Playing her first match since the US Open, she eventually took down Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-1 in her tournament debut. She’s two match wins from gaining her eighth quarterfinal of the year.

Highlights: Gauff d. Garcia

Badosa defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Her only previous Indian Wells experience resulted in a qualifying loss to Veronika Kudermetova.

Head-to head: 0-0.

[10] Angelique Kerber vs. [20] Daria Kasatkina

Kerber rallied to defeat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-5, while Kasatkina advanced when qualifier Astra Sharma retired while leading 4-3 in the first set.

The 33-year-old German has been enjoying a career renaissance, winning 18 of 22 matches, going back to her title in Bad Homburg. Kerber, a semifinalist in 2012 and 2013, reached the 2019 final here but fell to Bianca Andreescu.

Highlights: Kerber d. Siniakova

Kasatkina’s first WTA 1000 quarterfinal came at Indian Wells in 2016 and, two years later, a run to the finals featured a quarterfinal victory over Kerber. The former WTA No.10 has won 36 matches in 2021, more than twice her total the past two years.

Head-to head: 4-4, all matches coming from 2016-19.

[26] Tamara Zidansek vs. Ajla Tomljanovic

Six times, Tomljanovic had come up against a Top 10 player in 2021, and six times she had departed the loser. Saturday, she changed that calculus, surprising No.5 seed Garbiñe Muguruza. It was the 28-year-old Australian’s best win of the year based on ranking.

Both players won 75 points, but Tomljanovic converted six break points, one more than Muguruza.

Muguruza was coming off a title run last week in Chicago. Tomljanovic, meanwhile, is in the third round at Indian Wells for the first time ever.

Highlights: Zidansek d. Konjuh | Tomljanovic d. Muguruza

Roland Garros semifinalist Zidansek also went the distance, handling Ana Konjuh 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

“She’s been having a great year,” Tomljanovic said of Zidansek. “I’m expecting her to play really well, like she has been. I’m pretty excited for it because I’m feeling good. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t put a good performance in on Monday.”

Head-to head: 4-2, Tomljanovic, all in 2018-19.