Indian Wells have named Juan Martin Del Potro, Taylor Fritz and Zhang Shuai as their first initial wildcards for 2016. Del Potro receives one after recently returning to the tour, whilst Zhang and Fritz have been rewarded for their impressive early season form. The event starts on 7th March and is a joint event between the ATP and WTA tours.
Del Potro To Play His First Masters 1000 Event Since Miami Last Year
After recently returning to the ATP World Tour, Juan Martin Del Potro has been granted a wildcard into his first Masters 1000 event since Miami last year. The event will be the Argentine’s second appearance at a Masters event since 2013, as he featured in Miami last year through a protected ranking.
The Californian based event is statistically the ‘Tower of Tandil’s’ second favourite Masters event with him holding a seventy six percent win rate including a run to the final in 2013. That year he beat Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic back-to-back to reach a showdown finale with Rafael Nadal, losing in three despite taking a set lead.
The 2009 US Open champion is performing well in his first return tournament, and has reached the quarterfinals in Delray Beach as present. He has been given another wildcard into Acapulco next week before arriving in Indian Wells and later heading to Miami with another protected ranking.
Fritz Rewarded For His Impressive Start
America’s next big tennis hope Taylor Fritz is the second man to receive a wildcard into Indian Wells, after becoming the fastest American player to reach an ATP final. The Californian-born youngster went all the way to the Memphis final last week, including wins over Benjamin Becker and Ricardas Berankis before running into Kei Nishikori who secured another title in the American city.
The eighteen year-old will feature in the main draw of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career after previously only playing in the qualifying draw in Indian Wells. He beat Dudi Sela comprehensively in the first round and was only beaten by tour veteran Thiemo de Bakker in two close sets.
Zhang Shuai Looks To Build On A Strong Australian Open Campaign
Zhang Shuai becomes the first female player to be granted direct entry into Indian Wells due to a stunning performance in the Australian Open. The Chinese player had never previously won a main draw match in a Grand Slam, but put aside fourteen previous disappointments to reach the quarterfinals after battling through the qualifying rounds. Her run to the last eight in Melbourne included wins over second-seed Simona Halep and Madison Keys, eventually running out of steam against the other surprise package Johanna Konta.
The sixty-seventh ranked player has played Indian Wells twice before, with her best run being in 2011 where she reached the second round by beating Ayumi Morita in the opening match. Her best record in a WTA premier mandatory event came in Beijing back in 2009 where she stunned world number one Dinara Safina in straight sets, but has only been past the first round four times since in similar tournaments.
Other Wildcards Will Be Named
Del Potro, Fritz and Zhang are the first initial players to be granted direct entry into Indian Wells, as the organisers have announced that three men’s wildcards will be named in the coming weeks, alongside seven in the women’s draw.
