INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- One of the vital components of life as a tennis professional takes place outside the public eye. Advanced metrics have come hurtling into the game, but there’s still room for some old-fashioned film study.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek looks forward to these sessions with her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski.

“He has a really good perspective on tennis,” Swiatek told reporters here at the BNP Paribas Open. “When we started watching matches, I just felt like I can learn tactically much, much more, and then use it on court. I remember having a few players I didn’t like playing against, and then I started to be more comfortable and win against them.”

You can be sure they’ve been focusing on one particular match in advance of Swiatek’s third-round match against Linda Noskova on Sunday. That would be Swiatek’s third-round match at this year’s Australian Open. Noskova, a 19-year-old from the Czech Republic, stunned the four-time Grand Slam champion in three sets.

Reliving that match won’t be pleasant, but likely informative. When they rewind the tape, Swiatek and Wiktorowski will see:

  • Missed opportunities against the Hologic WTA Tour’s No.50-ranked player. After winning the first set, Swiatek held two break points in the second but failed to convert. After the second one, Noskova came back to break Swiatek at love and won 11 of the next 12 points to take the set.
  • Tentative play in big moments. Swiatek converted only two of seven break opportunities. Typically, she is among the best at breaking opponents and defending her serve.
  • A rare wobble against a lower-ranked opponent. Previously, Swiatek had won 67 of 68 matches against players ranked No.50 or beyond. Noskova was the first teenager to defeat a WTA No.1 since Petra Kvitova was a winner over Dinara Safina in the third round of the US Open.

Swiatek will be keen to deploy some altered tactics to ensure it doesn’t happen again. In their only other previous match, Swiatek won in straight sets, last year in the Warsaw quarterfinals.

As baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

The same is true for another marquee match at Indian Wells, when 16 days after the fact, the Dubai final will be restaged. It’s a loaded Sunday schedule, with eight quality matches from the top half of the draw, featuring four major champions.

No.13 Jasmine Paolini vs. No.21 Anna Kalinskaya

Hard to believe this is a third-round match, between two Top 25 players. In Dubai, these two battled for more than two hours, with Paolini prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

The 28-year-old Italian was down a break in the second and third sets but came back to win the biggest title of her career. This, after falling in her three previous finals.

This will actually be the third time they’ve met this year, going back to Kalinskaya’s straight-sets win in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Paolini, though, holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage, beginning with Portoroz in 2021 -- when she beat Kalinskaya on the way to the title.

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Katie Volynets

Volynets was 5 years old when Wozniacki played her first tournament at Indian Wells. She was 8 when Wozniacki reached her first final here and 9 when she won the 2011 title.

Now the 22-year-old from Walnut Creek, California meets Wozniacki in an intriguing third-rounder. Volynets surprised No.6 seed Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4, following up another upset in the first round over ascending teenager Mirra Andreeva. 

Wozniacki, the 33-year-old mother of two, advanced by defeating Zhu Lin and Donna Vekic, surviving a tiebreak in each match. For the record, Wozniacki has now played a total of 266 matches in WTA Tour 1000s -- Volynets’ total is six, all at Indian Wells.

“I’m just happy to be out there competing and playing in front of a nice crowd, and on big courts,” Wozniacki said. “That’s kind of where my mindset is. Doesn’t matter to me who is on the other side. I’m going to try my best and try and perform at the highest level that I possibly can.”

No.17 Veronika Kudermetova vs. Angelique Kerber 

It was a slow start for Kerber in her return after giving birth to daughter Liana last February. Now 36, she lost six of her first seven matches but has come to life in the desert where she was a finalist in 2019. Kerber dispatched Petra Martic in the first round and No.10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, already a two-time titlist in 2024, in the second.

“Two matches that I won already -- and it feels good,” Kerber said. “That gives me for sure a lot of confidence. I mean, it’s always not easy to come back after such a long break.”

Kudermetova was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over qualifier Nao Hibino in the second round. These two have never played.

No. 18 Madison Keys vs. Yulia Putintseva 

Keys won her first match of 2024 in rousing fashion, defeating fellow American Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4). 

A shoulder injury had forced her to miss the past five months, but Keys saved two match points against Baptiste. This is Keys’ 12th appearance at Indian Wells, and her overall record is 11-11. Her best effort by far was a run to the quarterfinals in 2022.

Putintseva was a winner over Tamara Korpatsch and No.15 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. Keys has won two of their previous three matches, most recently two years ago in Cincinnati.

Sunday’s order of play

STADIUM 1 start 11 a.m. PT
[1] I. Swiatek (POL) vs [26] L. Noskova (CZE)

Not Before 1 p.m.
[31] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs [2] C. Alcaraz (ESP) 
[25] J. Struff (GER) vs [3] J. Sinner (ITA) 

Not Before 6 p.m.
[WC] C. Wozniacki (DEN) vs [WC] K. Volynets (USA)

Not Before 8 p.m.
[16] B. Shelton (USA) vs [22] F. Cerundolo (ARG) 

STADIUM 2 start 11 a.m.
[18] F. Tiafoe (USA) vs [11] S. Tsitsipas (GRE) 

Not Before 1 p.m.
[21] A. Kalinskaya vs [13] J. Paolini (ITA)
A. Kerber (GER) vs [17] V. Kudermetova

Not Before 6 p.m.
[6] A. Zverev (GER) vs [27] T. Griekspoor (NED) 

Not Before 8 p.m.
[12] B. Haddad Maia (BRA) vs [22] A. Pavlyuchenkova

STADIUM 3 start 11 a.m.
[5] C. Gauff (USA) / J. Pegula (USA) vs [WC] S. Kenin (USA) / B. Mattek-Sands (USA)
[18] M. Keys (USA) vs Y. Putintseva (KAZ)
[LL] N. Podoroska (ARG) vs [28] A. Potapova
[5] A. Rublev vs [32] J. Lehecka (CZE) 
[Alt] S. Doumbia (FRA) / F. Reboul (FRA) vs [3] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR)