WTA BNP Parabas Open Odds: Rybakina poised for a successful title defence

One of the biggest tournaments of the WTA Tour season begins in California on Wednesday as 96 players fight it out for the coveted Indian Wells title.

The first leg of the Sunshine Double and the third WTA 1000 series event of the season has attracted all of the stars of the women's game including world no.1 Iga Swiatek, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and third and fourth-ranked Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina. That quartet dominate the betting for Indian Wells with top seed Swiatek 11/4 to win at the Tennis Garden for the second time. Sabalenka is a 3/1 shot with Rybakina on offer at 11/2 and Gauff at 6/1. It's 25/1 bar the 'big four'.

Elena Rybakina to win Indian Wells @ 11/2

Swiatek continues to set the standard on the WTA Tour but there is no doubt that the gap has narrowed with Sabalenka looking a constant threat to the Pole's top-dog status, while Rybakina and Gauff have also proven themselves as genuinely top-class performers.

World no.1 Swiatek suffered a shock defeat at the Australian Open to Linda Noskova, who she could face in round three at Indian Wells, and she is worth opposing given the likelihood of a difficult run to the latter rounds.

Sabalenka has played once since winning in Melbourne and may well be short of match fitness so it could be the turn of defending champion Rybakina to claim another big WTA victory.

The Kazakhstani, Wimbledon champion in 2022, hammered Sabalenka in Brisbane to start the campaign before suffering her own shock exit in the Australian Open, but she bounced back to win in Abu Dhabi at the start of February.

A Qatar final defeat to Swiatek followed, but Rybakina was beginning to look jaded by that point and that was confirmed by her decision to withdraw from the Dubai Championships at the quarter-final stage.

The big-serving 24-year-old relished conditions in Indian Wells last season, beating Swiatek and Sabalenka to take the title, and she looks the best bet again a year later having had time to recover from her exploits in the Middle East.

Victoria Azarenka to win Indian Wells @ 100/1

While the betting suggests the winner will come from the top four, it could pay to take a punt on Victoria Azarenka, a former Indian Wells champion who relishes competing at the Tennis Garden and has been playing better than her 2024 results suggests.

Azarenka has landed in a winnable third quarter alongside surprise Aussie Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng and an out-of-sorts Gauff. She beat Serena Williams in the final of this event in 2016 and reached the final again three years ago, losing out to Paula Badosa.

While not the force she once was, the 34-year-old has performed with credit in three of four events this year, winning three times in Brisbane, Melbourne and Qatar, while she took a set off Rybakina in Dubai last month before an abdominal injury forced an early retirement.