Recent Australian Open finalist and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin headlines the list of women wildcard recipients for the BNP Paribas Open.
The Premier mandatory Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tennis tournament will be held March 8-21 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.
Henin, who won the BNP Paribas Open in 2004, recently returned to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after retiring from the sport in May of 2008. She came back with a flourish this year, and as an unranked wildcard reached the finals of her first event in Brisbane and the finals at the Australian Open. The former World No. 1 will be making her first trip to Indian Wells since 2006.
On the women’s side, three American women, Christina McHale, Alexa Glatch and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, have been granted wildcards.
McHale, a talented 17-year old, reached the second round of the US Open last year and was a member of the US Fed Cup team that won its first round match against France a month ago. Glatch, a California native, has five ITF titles on her resume, and reached the third round at the BNP Paribas Open last year. Mattek-Sands, who has won seven doubles titles in her career, including three last year, was also a member of the US Fed Cup team last month, winning both a singles and doubles match en route to victory.
In addition to the Americans, four international stars also accepted wildcards including former top 20 Australian star Alicia Molik, five-time winner on Tour Eleni Daniilidou, Austrian Tamira Paszek, and rising junior star Alja Tomljanovic.
Wild cards for the women’s qualifying draw were awarded to Coco Vandeweghe, Alison Riske, Anastasia Pivovarova, Sloane Stephens and Julia Boserup. Two other qualifying draw wildcards (one man, one woman) will be given to the winners of the pre-qualifying round of the BNP Paribas Open Challenge tournament, to be held this weekend, March 6-7, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
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Come on Justine!