THURSDAY SCHEDULE and PREVIEW | 2024 Indian Wells Open featuring Naomi OSAKA, Emma RADUCANU and Venus WILLIAMS

Tennis News
Thursday, 07 March 2024 at 10:49
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Rain rain go away and it seemingly will for Thursday at the 2024 Indian Wells Open with the Schedule now confirmed for Day Two of the action in Tennis Paradise featuring the conclusion of the games not finished on Wednesday as well as the end of the first round.

It is jam packed with our preview looking ahead to the leading talking points as the Indian Wells Open continues in California hopefully with no delays.

Raducanu, Osaka and Venus Williams among star names in action

It is a trio of returnees that flank the line-up on Thursday with Naomi Osaka set to play on the Stadium 1 show court in her return for the first time since she was left in tears after getting heckled by the crowd in California back in 2022.

A different player since then mainly as a person, Osaka was going through a lot mentally back in 2022 and since becoming a mother has become more calm and relaxed to the task of being a tennis player asif the block of time away from the sport has made her more carefree knowing nappies matter more than discussion over her not attending press conferences in Paris.

One of only a few of the returnees too to show a glimmer of hope in her return. She will face veteran Sara Errani third up on Stadium 1 having had a good run in particular in Doha recently and was unlucky as Karolina Pliskova withdrew from her Quarter-Final after meaning it could've been even better. Expecting to peak around Roland Garros to Wimbledon, Osaka is on schedule seemingly to do better than expected.

But from one player wanting results to another who said she doesn't care about them in Emma Raducanu. A late wildcard into this tournament, she plays on Stadium 2 against Rebeka Masarova first up to likely please the British crowd and Sky Sports' adoring coverage.

Raducanu had a good start back to tennis life, but that went down like a lead balloon in Doha where she was well beaten by Anhelina Kalinina. In particular the tact of Raducanu going to an event in Dubai and fulfilling her burgeoning sponsorship commitments seemed to rub some people up the wrong way. But fraught with complaints since she won the US Open, the only way she can end those is by winning games and she can do so here.

Venus Williams also continues on from her opener which will finally be completed. Sat at only 1-1 against Nao Hibino, she will resume that after Stan Wawrinka. While Caroline Wozniacki similarly will complete her opener.

No Nadal but Sumit Nagal?

Rafael Nadal somewhat unsurprisingly will not play Indian Wells again and has continued to have injury setbacks that blight him and mean that he will go into the clay court season with minimal matches under his belt.

But somewhat oddly and likely a legacy of there being three WTA matches already on the main court and for balance, Milos Raonic's opener continues to be on Stadium 1. But it won't be Nadal, it will be Indian ace Sumit Nagal. Yeah don't adjust your glasses. Gael Monfils, Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin among others also involved, that is the Day Two schedule.

Thursday Order of Play 2024 Indian Wells Open (all times local)

Stadium 1

11 a.m.: Stan Wawrinka vs. Tomas Machac

Not before noon: Venus Williams vs. Nao Hibino (completion)

Followed by: Naomi Osaka vs. Sara Errani

Not before 6 p.m.: Milos Raonic vs. Sumit Nagal

Followed by: Viktoriya Tomova vs. Sofia Kenin

Stadium 2

11 a.m.: Emma Raducanu vs. Rebeka Masarova

Not before noon: Caroline Wozniacki vs. Lin Zhu (completion)

Followed by: Gael Monfils vs. Max Purcell

Followed by: Alex Michelsen vs. Jaume Munar

Not before 6 p.m.: Sloane Stephens vs. Mayar Sherif

Followed by: Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Denis Shapovalov

Stadium 3

11 a.m.: Lorenzo Sonego vs. Miomir Kecmanovic

Not before noon: Erika Andreeva vs. Danielle Collins (completion)

Followed by: Roman Safiullin vs. Daniel Evans

Followed by: Thiago Seyboth Wild vs. J.J. Wolf

Followed by: Fabio Fognini vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles

Followed by: Aleksandar Kovacevic vs. Zhizhen Zhang

Stadium 4

11 a.m.: Katerina Siniakova vs. Greet Minnen

Not before noon: Dusan Lajovic vs. Emil Ruusuvuori

Followed by: Anna Blinkova vs. Karolina Pliskova

Followed by: Xinyu Wang vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova

Followed by: Cristina Bucsa vs. Caroline Dolehide

Followed by: Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Peyton Stearns

Stadium 5

11 a.m.: Tallon Griekspoor/Hubert Hurkacz vs. Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek

Not before noon: Constant Lestienne vs. Denis Kudla

Followed by: Jakub Mensik vs. Seongchan Hong

Followed by: Juncheng Shang vs. Jordan Thompson

Followed by: Ethan Quinn vs. Patrick Kypson

Followed by: Nicolas Moreno De Alboran vs. Lukas Klein

Stadium 6

11 a.m.: Magdalena Frech vs. Lucia Bronzetti

Not before noon: McCartney Kessler vs. Nuria Parrizas Diaz (completion)

Followed by: Taylor Townsend vs. Magda Linette

Followed by: Liv Hovde vs. Lesia Tsurenko

Followed by: Taylor Fritz/Jiri Lehecka vs. Nathaniel Lammons/Jackson Withrow

Followed by: Hugo Grenier vs. Alexandre Muller

Stadium 7

11 a.m.: Shintaro Mochizuki vs. Aleksandar Vukic

Not before noon: Lucas Pouille vs. Daniel Altmaier

Followed by: Borna Coric vs. Sebastian Ofner

Followed by: Arthur Fils vs. Nuno Borges

Followed by: Pavel Kotov vs. Alejandro Tabilo

Followed by: Flavio Cobolli vs. Roberto Carballes Baena

Stadium 8

11 a.m.: Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez vs. Linda Noskova/Marketa Vondrousova

Not before noon: Nadia Podoroska vs. Ashlyn Krueger

Followed by: Su-Wei Hsieh/Elise Mertens vs. Jasmine Paolini/Liudmila Samsonova

Followed by: Elina Avanesyan vs. Oceane Dodin

Followed by: Sorana Cirstea/Donna Vekic vs. Demi Schuurs/Luisa Stefani

Stadium 9

11 a.m.: Xiyu Wang vs. Clara Burel

Not before noon: Robin Montgomery vs. Hailey Baptiste

Followed by: Diane Parry vs. Martina Trevisan

Followed by: Varvara Gracheva vs. Yue Yuan

Followed by: Diana Shnaider vs. Ana Bogdan

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