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Ready for a full week of thrilling, top-level tennis at the Indian Wells 2023 Masters event? I certainly am, and now that the draws have been made, I’m all the more excited to watch the action unfold.
However, while there will be many of you who share this excitement, there are some who are curious as to the actual format of the tournament. After all, the format and subsequent structure of the tournament are different from events that are played at other levels like Grand Slams, 500s, 250s, and lower.
Therefore, I figured with the tournament kicking off within the next day or two, now is the perfect time to provide some clarity on this for all those who aren’t too sure. Anyway, there’s a fair bit to get through, so let me get the ball rolling right now.
Indian Wells 2023 Format – Your Complete Guide
Contents
In case you haven’t seen the preliminary schedule yet, I can confirm that the 2023 Indian Wells event is due to start on Wednesday, March 8th. This is the start date for the main draw, however, the qualifiers have been played over the last few days. In fact, Indian Wells qualifying will finish at the end of play on Tuesday, March 7th. This is when the final qualifying spots will be filled in concerning the main draws, and only then will we know exactly who is playing who in the opening rounds.
With that said, my goal here is to give you the rundown of the format for the Indian Wells event. So let me bring the focus back to that and run through some key questions, as well as provide a guide as to the tournament structure.
How Many Sets in Indian Wells
One of the first things that tennis fans wonder about with Indian Wells is how many sets each match consists of. After all, things have changed over the years regarding the sets played at different stages of the event.
However, as things stand concerning how many sets in Indian Wells for the 2023 tournament, both the men’s and women’s games are played in a best-of-three format. This is true for every round of the tournament, including the finals, which was where the men would previously play a best-of-five match in previous Indian Wells tournaments.
Format of Deciding Sets
Another factor that people wonder about is the actual format of deciding sets if a match goes that far. Once again, this is different for certain events played on both the ATP and WTA Tours. But for the 2023 Indian Wells tournament, the third and final set of all singles matches is simply played as a regular set. This means that it’s the first to win 6 games in that set, with a ‘clear by two’ rule in place, much like other tournaments. However, if the set goes to 6-6, a regular tie-break to 7 points is played to decide the match.
With that said, the format for deciding sets in the doubles events is different from the singles events. Instead of playing a full third set, both the men’s and women’s doubles events are decided with a 10-point tie-break. This is done to keep the games shorter and ensure that everything stays on schedule.
Men’s Singles Bracket
Switching attention to the actual structure of the brackets now, let me begin by addressing the men’s singles event. This can seem a little strange when you first look at the draw and see that there are 128 individual positions. However, I can confirm that the men’s singles draw consists of 96 players in total. And the reason that the draw has 96 players and not 128 is because the seeded players all get a ‘bye’ to the second round.
There are 32 men’s seeds at Indian Wells in total, meaning that 32 of the 128 positions in the draw will be empty, paving the way for a draw size of 96 players. As for the style of the draw, it’s a straight-up knockout tournament with the draw size halving with each passing round.
Women’s Singles Bracket
The women’s singles bracket is actually identical to the men’s for the 2023 Indian Wells Masters. This means that the draw consists of 32 seeded players within a bracket that has 128 starting points. Just like the men’s singles tournament, the 32 seeds also receive a ‘bye’ to the second round here. So in total, the Indian Wells women’s singles event has 96 players involved in the main draw. And just to clarify, the format of the women’s singles is also the same as it is for the men.
There will be one winner from each of the sections for every round played, meaning the draw size will be halved with each passing round. This continues until we are left with two finalists who will compete for the trophy and generous prize money.
Doubles Brackets
The doubles brackets for the Indian Wells events are a bit different from the singles events. Rather than the bracket consisting of 96 players, here the bracket consists of 32 pairs. Of course, when you double this up for each pairing, the total number of players involved in the doubles draw is 64. This is true for both the men’s and women’s doubles draws, and with the draw operating as a progressive knockout tournament, the standard halving with each round remains in place.
2023 Indian Wells Schedule
Finally, I’d like to highlight the preliminary schedule for the Indian Wells 2023 tournament before things get underway. As mentioned earlier, the main draw begins on Wednesday, March 8th. From here, the matches are played every day or two, depending on whether the schedule progresses smoothly or not. But with each passing round, there are fewer and fewer matches to tune in for since the number of players involved naturally decreases.
As for the final of the events, the women’s singles is set to be completed on Saturday, March 18th. Then for the men’s singles tournament, the final will be played on Sunday, March 19th. Therefore, in total, we’ve got well over a week of top-tier tennis to keep us all occupied. And there will just be one winner left standing for these events!
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