Players and fans at a tennis tournament similar to the kind held at Indian Wells. Photo from Pixabay.
Players and fans at a tennis tournament similar to the kind held at Indian Wells. Photo from Pixabay.

The fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open continues Wednesday, with eight more berths in the quarterfinals up for grabs.

The men’s schedule begins with an all-American showdown between No. 32 Brandon Nakashima and No. 11 Ben Shelton. Nakashima, making his first appearance in the fourth round of a Masters 1000 event, will be looking to avenge his defeat against Shelton at the Australian Open in January.

No. 25 Francisco Cerúndolo and No. 9 Alex de Minaur also met in the Australian Open, a match de Minaur won on home soil. Cerúndolo has reached six ATP tournament finals in his five-year tour career, but he has zero finals appearances on hard courts, compared to de Minaur’s 15.

In the women’s tournament, No. 3 Coco Gauff is also sharing the court with an opponent she defeated in Melbourne — unseeded Belinda Bencic, the former Olympic gold medalist. Gauff reached the quarterfinals and semifinals in her last two trips to the desert, while Bencic is seeking to advance past the fourth round for the first time in six years.

No. 5 Madison Keys and No. 19 Donna Vekic, both relatively aggressive baseliners, last played each other in 2019. Keys will be looking to replicate her Australian Open success, while Vekic is in uncharted territory, already past the second round at Indian Wells for the first time in 10 career attempts.

Third-seeded Taylor Fritz of San Diego faced off against No. 13 Jack Draper three times in 2024. Fritz earned victory in Munich and at the Summer in Olympics in Paris, but Draper won a rematch three months later in the same venue at the Paris Masters 1000 event. Fritz, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, is considered a slight underdog due to Draper’s recent run of form.

For No. 14 Grigor Dimitrov, a tough task awaits against No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, the highest-ranked player remaining in the men’s draw. Four of their last five meetings have been at Masters 1000 events — Alcaraz took the first three head-to-heads, but Dimitrov won the two most recent clashes in Shanghai and Miami.

On the women’s side, unseeded Sonay Kartal will be hoping to channel her inner David against one of the biggest Goliaths on tour, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. The 2023 Indian Wells runner-up, Sabalenka has a 15-3 record in 2025 events, although two of those losses were to unseeded opponents.

No. 24 Liudmila Samsonova will battle No. 6 Jasmine Paolini for the final women’s match in the round of 16. Paolini had a breakout 2024 season, reaching the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon. Reaching the quarterfinals, however, would be a career-best result at Indian Wells for both players.

Both singles finals are scheduled to occur Sunday. A full scoreboard can be viewed at bnpparibasopen.com.

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