The 2021 Indian Wells Open (also known as the BNP Paribas Open for sponsorship reasons) was a professional men's and women's tennis tournament played in Indian Wells, California. After the event was cancelled the preceding year amid the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was initially scheduled to take place on March 10–21, 2021, but was postponed to October 6–17, 2021 to accommodate logistics disruptions owing to the pandemic.
It was the 47th edition of the men's event and 32nd of the women's event, and was classified as an ATP Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2021 ATP Tour and a WTA 1000 event on the 2021 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's qualifying and main draw events took place at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden from October 4 through October 17, 2021 on outdoor hard courts.
Dominic Thiem was the defending men's singles champion from when the tournament was last held in 2019. However, after Thiem ended his season early due to an ongoing wrist injury, he withdrew from the tournament. Cameron Norrie won the men's singles title to become the first British man to win the Indian Wells Masters and earn his first ATP Masters 1000 title. Bianca Andreescu was the defending women's singles champion from 2019, but she lost in the third round to Anett Kontaveit. Paula Badosa won the women's singles title to become the first Spanish woman to win the Indian Wells Masters and earn her first WTA 1000 title.
The teams of Nikola Mektić and Horacio Zeballos and Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka were the defending champions in the men's and women's doubles draws, respectively. Mektić and Zeballos chose not to participate together. Mektić played alongside partner Mate Pavić as the top seeds, but the pair lost in the quarterfinals. Zeballos played alongside partner Marcel Granollers, but were eliminated in the first round. Sabalenka chose not to defend her title and Mertens entered alongside partner Hsieh Su-wei. Mertens successfully defended her title with Hsieh, making it Mertens' second and Hsieh's third Indian Wells title, respectively.
Champions
Men's singles
- Cameron Norrie def. Nikoloz Basilashvili, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Women's singles
- Paula Badosa def. Victoria Azarenka, 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 7–6(7–2)
This was Badosa's second WTA Tour singles title, and first at the WTA 1000 level.
Men's doubles
- John Peers / Filip Polášek def. Aslan Karatsev / Andrey Rublev, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Women's doubles
- Hsieh Su-wei / Elise Mertens def. Veronika Kudermetova / Elena Rybakina, 7–6(7–1), 6–3
Points and prize money
Point distribution
Prize money
- per team
ATP singles main-draw entrants
Seeds
The following are the seeded players. Seedings are based on ATP rankings as of October 4, 2021. Rank and points before are as of October 4, 2021.
As a result of pandemic-related adjustments to the ranking system, players are defending their points from the 2019 tournament (which had already been reduced by 50%), as well as from tournaments held during the weeks of 7 and 14 October 2019 (Shanghai, Stockholm, Antwerp and/or Moscow) and 12 October 2020 (St. Petersburg, Cologne or Sardinia). Points from 2019 and 2020 tournaments are included in the table only if they counted towards the player's ranking as of October 4, 2021.
† The player is not defending points from either 2019 or 2020. Accordingly, his 19th best result is shown in this column instead.
^ Because the 2021 tournament is non-mandatory, the player substituted his 19th best result in place of the points won in this tournament.
Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:
- Andy Murray
- Holger Rune
- Jack Sock
- Zachary Svajda
- J. J. Wolf
The following player received entry using a protected ranking into the singles main draw:
- Philipp Kohlschreiber
The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:
- Salvatore Caruso
- Maxime Cressy
- Ernesto Escobedo
- Christopher Eubanks
- Emilio Gómez
- Cem İlkel
- Roberto Marcora
- Renzo Olivo
- João Sousa
- Alejandro Tabilo
- Botic van de Zandschulp
- Aleksandar Vukic
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Aljaž Bedene → replaced by Daniel Altmaier
- Alexander Bublik → replaced by Carlos Taberner
- Jérémy Chardy → replaced by Thiago Monteiro
- Marin Čilić → replaced by Jenson Brooksby
- Borna Ćorić → replaced by Guido Pella
- Pablo Cuevas → replaced by Roberto Carballés Baena
- Novak Djokovic → replaced by Feliciano López
- Roger Federer → replaced by Philipp Kohlschreiber
- David Goffin → replaced by Egor Gerasimov
- Ugo Humbert → replaced by Steve Johnson
- Ilya Ivashka → replaced by Daniel Elahi Galán
- Rafael Nadal → replaced by Brandon Nakashima
- Milos Raonic → replaced by Denis Kudla
- Dominic Thiem → replaced by Facundo Bagnis
- Stan Wawrinka → replaced by Tennys Sandgren
- Mikael Ymer → replaced by Taro Daniel
- During the tournament
- John Isner
ATP doubles main-draw entrants
Seeds
- Rankings are as of October 4, 2021.
Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:
- John Isner / Jack Sock
- Steve Johnson / Sam Querrey
- Mackenzie McDonald / Brandon Nakashima
The following pair received entry as alternates:
- Filip Krajinović / Dušan Lajović
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Matteo Berrettini / Jannik Sinner → replaced by Filip Krajinović / Dušan Lajović
- Marcelo Demoliner / Daniil Medvedev → replaced by Cristian Garín / Santiago González
- During the tournament
- John Isner / Jack Sock
WTA singles main-draw entrants
Seeds
The following are the seeded players. Seedings are based on WTA rankings as of September 27, 2021. Rankings and points before are as of October 4, 2021.
As a result of pandemic-related adjustments to the ranking system and changes to the WTA Tour calendar in 2020 and 2021, players will have the following potential adjustments to their ranking points after the tournament:
- players who have points from the 2020 French Open counting towards their ranking on October 4, 2021, will have those points replaced by points from the 2021 French Open;
- players will be dropping points from tournaments held during the weeks of 7 and 14 October 2019 (Tianjin, Linz, Moscow and Luxembourg); and
- players who are not defending points from October 2019 will have their 16th best result replaced by their points from the 2021 Indian Wells tournament.
Points from the 2019 Indian Wells tournament will be dropped on November 8, 2021.
† Only players who were counting their 2020 French Open points in their rankings as of October 4, 2021 are shown in these columns.
Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:
- Kim Clijsters
- Elsa Jacquemot
- Ashlyn Krueger
- Claire Liu
Caty McNally- Emma Raducanu
- Katrina Scott
- Katie Volynets
The following players received entry using a protected ranking into the singles main draw:
- Zheng Saisai
The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:
- Usue Maitane Arconada
- Zarina Diyas
- Kirsten Flipkens
- Magdalena Fręch
- Mai Hontama
- Anna Kalinskaya
- Kateryna Kozlova
- Liang En-shuo
- Alycia Parks
- Elena-Gabriela Ruse
- Astra Sharma
- Martina Trevisan
The following players received entry as lucky losers:
- Beatriz Haddad Maia
- Kristína Kučová
- Jasmine Paolini
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Ekaterina Alexandrova → replaced by Marie Bouzková
- Ashleigh Barty → replaced by Polona Hercog
- Belinda Bencic → replaced by Kristína Kučová
- Jennifer Brady → replaced by Camila Osorio
- Sofia Kenin → replaced by Ana Konjuh
- Johanna Konta → replaced by Hsieh Su-wei
- Caty McNally → replaced by Jasmine Paolini
- Kristina Mladenovic → replaced by Nuria Párrizas Díaz
- Karolína Muchová → replaced by Aliaksandra Sasnovich
- Naomi Osaka → replaced by Misaki Doi
- Nadia Podoroska → replaced by Beatriz Haddad Maia
- Aryna Sabalenka → replaced by Lauren Davis
- Alison Van Uytvanck → replaced by Mayar Sherif
- Elena Vesnina → replaced by Anna Karolína Schmiedlová
- Serena Williams → replaced by Madison Brengle
WTA doubles main-draw entrants
Seeds
- Rankings are as of September 27, 2021.
Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:
- Amanda Anisimova / Dayana Yastremska
- Reese Brantmeier / Katrina Scott
- Simona Halep / Elena-Gabriela Ruse
The following pairs received entry using protected rankings:
- Nao Hibino / Alicja Rosolska
- Julia Lohoff / Alexandra Panova
- Anastasia Rodionova / Arina Rodionova
- Heather Watson / Zheng Saisai
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Anna Blinkova / Aliaksandra Sasnovich → replaced by Ulrikke Eikeri / Aliaksandra Sasnovich
- Caroline Garcia / Kristina Mladenovic → replaced by Kirsten Flipkens / Sara Sorribes Tormo
See also
References
External links
- Official website
