Coco Gauff to play Indian Wells for 1st time in March

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old rising American star, will make her first appearance at the BNP Paribas Open, joining all the top 75-ranked men’s and women’s players in the world.

Gauff reached the fourth round at the Australian Open last week. Last year, she made the fourth round at Wimbledon and the third round at the U.S. Open.

Nine former champions are among the field for the tournament that runs March 9-22 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Last year’s winners were Dominic Thiem and Bianca Andreescu. Other former winners are Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

Current women’s world No. 1 Ash Barty is also in the field announced Wednesday.

The remaining spots in the draws will be filled by the winners of the qualifying tournament in March, the top two American women and men with the most points in the Oracle Challenger Series, and wild cards to be announced.