Fourth round singles action concludes on Wednesday in Indian Wells.
Taylor Fritz won the biggest title of his career three years ago at Indian Wells, the biggest tournament in his home state of California. He has failed to reach another Masters 1000 final since, though he did advance to the final of both the US Open and the ATP Finals last season. On Wednesday, he goes up against Jack Draper, who played three tight matches against Fritz during 2024.
Other ATP fourth round action sees two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz take on Grigor Dimitrov, who is coming off a grueling contest on Monday night against Gael Monfils. Plus, both Alex de Minaur and Ben Shelton face seeded opposition.
On the WTA side, Coco Gauff will do battle with an impressively in-form Belinda Bencic. Australian Open champ Madison Keys plays Olympic bronze medalist Donna Vekic. And World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Major finalist Jasmine Paolini will both play their round of 16 matches.
This preview will analyze the two most prominent matches of the day, while taking note of the other singles quarterfinals. Wednesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Coco Gauff (3) vs. Belinda Bencic – 11:00am on Stadium 1
Gauff went on a tear during the fall after parting ways with Brad Gilbert, going 13-2 with two titles (Beijing, WTA Finals). Her momentum continued at the beginning of 2025, claiming her first nine matches. But then she lost her next three, starting with an Australian Open quarterfinal against Paula Badosa. And Coco was almost eliminated in her opening round here, though she rebounded nicely on Monday against a struggling Maria Sakkari. Now she vies for her third consecutive quarterfinal at Indian Wells.
Bencic is a stellar 16-4 this season, in her return from giving birth to her first child. She claimed a title last month in Abu Dhabi, and has already eliminated two top 20 seeds during this event (Anisimova, Shnaider). Belinda was a semifinalist here in 2019, but outside of that run, actually owns a losing record in “Tennis Paradise.”
Gauff leads their head-to-head 2-1, including a three-set win less than two months ago at the Australian Open. Yet considering the amount of double faults and unforced errors Coco struck in her first match here, I expect Belinda’s consistency to draw many of those mistakes out of the third seed again on Wednesday. An upset would not be entirely shocking.
Jack Draper (13) vs. Taylor Fritz (3) – Third on Stadium 1
These players have split four previous meetings, though their only hard court encounter went to Draper. That was also their most recent matchup, just a few months ago at the Paris Indoors, with Jack winning 6-4 in the third. Their other two 2024 meetings also went the distance, with both taking place on clay, and both going to Taylor. Back in 2022, a young and inexperienced Draper upset Fritz at Queen’s Club on grass.
Fritz is a modest 10-4 on the year, and suffered a disappointing loss in the third round of the Australian Open to Gael Monfils. But Taylor detailed to Tennis Channel on Monday how he was dealing with an undisclosed injury during February, when he lost twice to players ranked outside the top 50. He says he’s now back to full health, and dropped one set through two matches here thus far.
Draper is 9-2 this season, and endured an extremely trying first week in Melbourne, where he was pushed to five sets in all of his first three matches, yet won all three. He then reached the final of Doha, and won his first two matches here in straights, so Jack is in fine form. This is another case where an upset would not be surprising, especially considering the Brit’s formidable lefty serve. But at Fritz’s best Masters 1000 tournament, and in his home state, I still give Taylor the slight edge.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Brandon Nakashima (32) vs. Ben Shelton (11) – Shelton served some bombs (as high as 150mph) and hit some monster forehands (as high as 106mph) to defeat Karen Khachanov in straight sets on Monday. Ben is 3-0 against Brandon, having beat him three times in straights within the last 12 months. However, all seven sets they’ve played have gone to 7-5 or to a tiebreak.
Donna Vekic (19) vs. Madison Keys (5) – Keys survived a stern test in the last round from Elise Mertens. On the same day, Vekic earned a strong straight-set victory over Emma Navarro. Madison is 2-1 against Donna, though they haven’t met in almost six years.
Francisco Cerundolo (25) vs. Alex de Minaur (9) – De Minaur has dropped just eight games through four sets, notably dominating Hubert Hurkacz in the last round. These players just had their first meeting less than two months ago at the Australian Open, where Alex prevailed in a four-hour four-setter.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Sonay Kartal (LL) – Sabalenka has not lost a set through two matches, while Kartal, a 23-year-old British lucky loser, hasn’t lost a set through three, since losing in qualifying a week ago.
Liudmila Samsonova (24) vs. Jasmine Paolini (6) – Paolini has already endured a pair of tight three-setters. Samsonova upset 12th-seeded Daria Kasatkina in the last round. Two years ago at the Australian Open, Liudmila defeated Jasmine 6-2, 6-4.
Grigor Dimitrov (14) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2) – What can Dimitrov possibly have left after an over three-hour battle with Gael Monfils that went late into the night on Monday, especially considering Grigor has retired mid-match due to injury three times this year? But Grigor has taken his last two matches against Carltios, after losing the first three.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play is here.
