McCartney Kessler makes her return to competition after a month at the WTA Indian Wells. The opening day features a slate of first-round matches, which includes Kessler’s meeting against Turkey’s rising star Zeynep Sonmez. Who will advance? We also predict the rest of the day’s matches in three separate articles, featuring Sloane Stephens vs Camila Osorio, Bianca Andreescu vs Kamilla Rakhimova, and Paula Badosa vs Yulia Putintseva.

WTA Indian Wells Day 1 Predictions
Dayana Yastremska vs Zhang Shuai

Head-to-head: Zhang 3-1 Yastremska

With a lower win rate and losses piling up, this has been a very difficult start to 2026 for Dayana Yastremska. If she’s searching for any positives, then she can look back at last year’s run in this tournament–she reached the third round. But the Indian Wells courts reward patience, and the Ukrainian favors early cuts at the ball. Zhang has a great chance to take advantage of this mini slump from her opponent, but she’s coming off a long week in Merida.
Prediction: Yastremska in 2

Ajla Tomljanovic vs Elena-Gabriela Ruse

Head-to-head: Ruse 2-1 Tomljanovic

Tomljanovic’s last main draw win in this tournament was four years ago. The Australian brings a heavier ball and cleaner baseline patterns, but physical durability remains a massive issue. And on slower hard courts, Tomljanovic will need to move around the court a lot more. Ruse is a decent defender who is gritty, and she beat Tomljanovic back in Melbourne this season. Form-wise, Ruse has outperformed Tomljanovic, and the physical edge is still with the Romanian.
Prediction: Ruse in 3

Kimberly Birrell vs Oksana Selekhmeteva

Head-to-head: Kimberly 1-0 Selekhmeteva

Selekhmeteva is a name that will feature regularly in these draws now that she has settled in the Top 100. The Russian has been very consistent this season, qualifying into two main draws and registering one of her best wins at the Australian Open when she beat Paula Badosa. Birrell won the pair’s only meeting last year, but Selekhmeteva has made strides in her development and ranking (currently sits above Birrell).
Prediction: Selekhmeteva in 3

McCartney Kessler vs Zeynep Sonmez

Head-to-head: first meeting

Kessler didn’t have the best of starts to 2025, with a 4-4 record coming to Indian Wells. But three of those defeats have been against Top 20 players, including to World No. 5 Jessica Pegula. That said, she sits comfortably inside the Top 50 and made the quarterfinals in her most recent appearance in Abu Dhabi. But it’s been a month since she was in action, and she withdrew from the rest of the Middle East swing because of a back injury. If it is serious, Sonmez’s sharpness could offset Kessler’s higher ranking and hard-court pedigree.
Prediction: Sonmez in 3

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