Indian Wells (USA) – The Brazilians who are vying for the doubles table at the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells met their first opponents on Wednesday. Luísa Stefani resumes her partnership with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowskiwhile Beatriz Haddad Maia plays for the first time with the experienced 34-year-old German Laura Siegemund.

Stefani and Dabrowski make their debuts against Kazakh Anna Danilina and North American Asia Muhammad. The 25-year-old from São Paulo has played two tournaments organized with Danilina in Doha and Dubai in recent weeks. In the event of victory, the next rivals could be the Chinese Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang, seeds 5 and current champions of the tournament, or the Chilean Alexa Guarachi and the New Zealander Erin Routliffe.

“Preparations are already underway here with Gaby. This is my first time playing here in the desert. We are delighted,” said Stefani, currently ranked 30th among doubles specialists. She and Dabrowski trained on Wednesday with American Desirae Krawczyk and Dutch Demi Schuurs, fifth best pair of the season.

Bia and Siegemund take on Japanese Eri Hozumi and Russian Yana Sizikova. In case of victory, they will be able to face the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and the Romanian Elena Ruse or the Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, seeded 3 of the tournament. The 26-year-old left-hander is ranked No. 13 in the world in singles and 26th in doubles.

Czechs and Americans lead the group
The Czechs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are the top seeds and will have a difficult start against the Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova, champions of the first WTA 1000 of the season in Dubai. North Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, champions in Doha, are seeded 2 and face Czechs Marketa Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova.