The Indian Wells draw was released last night with the majority of excitement centering around a potential third round clash between Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.  There are media reports that Simona Halep may pull out of the tournament due to a family tragedy.  I’m going to hold off from writing a full tournament preview just for now as Halep withdrawing could initiate a draw reshuffle.  I will be placing less emphasis on the tournament preview as times goes on as I feel previewing the matches we know are going to happen in the first round is much more worthwhile.  First round action at Indian Wells kicks off on Wednesday and there are plenty of engaging match-ups worth discussing before the seeds come out to play on Friday.

1. Bethanie Mattek-Sands v Taylor Townsend (IW, R1)

My favourite first round match-up from Indian Wells features two American wildcards, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Taylor Townsend.  This promises to be a fascinating match-up between two dynamic players who both love to be up at the net.  The 18-year-old, Townsend has been on my radar for a while after impressing in juniors.  Her best result last year came at Roland Garros where she upset Alize Cornet en route to the third round.  At the moment, her game is unrefined and she can commit a lot of unforced errors, but the potential is huge.  Townsend’s highest profile matches in 2015 have come against Caroline Wozniacki in Auckland (lost 6-1 7-6) and Melbourne (lost 7-6 6-2).  Townsend had chances in both matches to get a set, but showed her inexperience as Wozniacki won both matches in straight sets.

Like Townsend, Mattek-Sands employs an aggressive game style.  The wacky American, who paired up with Lucie Safarova to win the Australian Open doubles at the start of the year, was sidelined from the tour for six months last year due to a hip injury.  Mattek-Sands returned to the tour in Wuhan qualifying, but has a lot of hard work to do with a current ranking of 177.  Mattek-Sands won a couple of rounds at Melbourne, eventually falling to Simona Halep in the third round.  She also successfully qualified for Monterrey last week coming through three consecutive three setters before losing out in a crazy match to Francesca Schiavone.  This match should have a little bit of everything.  In terms of picking a winner, it’s a tricky one.  Townsend has played just one match since Australia with a straight sets loss to Maria Irigoyen in Monterrey qualifying.  This time round, i’d probably give the slight edge to BMS.

Prediction: Mattek-Sands d. Townsend in 3 sets

2. Mona Barthel v Kristina Mladenovic (IW, R1)

The winner of this first round match between Mona Barthel and Kristina Mladenovic will play Lucie Safarova in the second round.  Barthel has had some rotten luck in the past few months; she injured ankle ligaments in the off-season, which affected her preparations for 2015.  It looked like she may be out for quite sometime, but she made a swift recovery.  Mona shared on Facebook that she had illnesses in Auckland and at her last tournament in Doha where she suffered a 6-2 6-2 loss to Kateryna Kozlova in the first round of qualifying.  Barthel’s best result of the year so far came in Antwerp where she held her nerve impressively to record a first ever win over Eugenie Bouchard.

Mladenovic has begun the year with a handful of impressive singles results.  She reached the quarter-finals of Monterrey last week with victories over Tereza Smitkova and Vera Zvonareva.  She also qualified for the main draw of Sydney and knocked out Sabine Lisicki in the first round of the Australian Open.  Her best result came in Fed Cup action where she defeated Sara Errani on clay to help her team reach the semi-finals.  Mladenovic is still very inconsistent in singles and her best results have come on the doubles tour where she has won nine doubles titles, been a finalist at another seven and secured two mixed doubles Grand Slams with Daniel Nestor.  Barthel leads the head-to-head against Mladenovic, 3-1 and has won their last three matches all in straight sets.  Barthel performed well in the desert in 2012 and 2013, and seems to be fit and healthy.  This is likely to be a tight match, but i’d go for Mona.

Prediction: Barthel d. Mladenovic in 3 sets

A tournament preview and more first round previews will be posted later today on Moo’s Tennis Blog