(March 3, 2017) INDIAN WELLS, California,– Twelve Americans and Croatian Donna Vekic were awarded wild cards into the BNP Paribas Open, to be held March 6-19 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The Americans who were granted wild cards into the main draws include Frances Tiafoe, the youngest player in the Top 100 and youngest Orange Bowl Champion in the event’s history, winning the tournament at age 15; Stefan Kozlov, a 2014 Junior Grand Slam runner-up at the Australian Open and Wimbledon; Taylor Fritz, a Southern California native, who was named ATP Star of Tomorrow presented by Emirates in 2016 for being the youngest player to finish in the Top 100; Reilly Opelka, a 6’11” massive server who took 2016 BNP Paribas Open semifinalist David Goffin to five sets at the Australian Open; Bjorn Fratangelo, who advanced to the second round of the 2016 French Open; Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the 2016 BNP Paribas Open doubles crown with CoCo Vandeweghe; Nicole Gibbs, who advanced to the third round of the Australian Open; Taylor Townsend, who advanced to the third round of the 2014 French Open; Danielle Collins, a two-time NCAA singles winner at the University of Virginia; Irina Falconi, who earned her first WTA title in 2016 at Bogota; Kayla Day, 2016 US Open junior champion and USTA Girls’ 18s National winner; and Jennifer Brady, who made a tremendous run to the Australian Open Round of 16. Vekic won the title at Kuala Lumpur in 2014 at the age of 17.
Qualifying wild cards will be announced in the near future.