From 2004 to the present, five defending champions at Indian Wells have been eliminated early.

This week at the WTA1000 Indian Wells tournament, the eighth seed, defending champion, Russian player M. Andreeva, after winning the first set in the third round, was reversed by Czech player Siniakova who took the next two sets, resulting in a disappointing exit. Consequently, she failed to defend her titles at both the WTA1000 Dubai and WTA1000 Indian Wells events, and her world ranking dropped to tenth.

However, perhaps many netizens do not know that before this, there were four other defending champions who were also eliminated early in the third round. So, who are these four defending champions? And in which years of the WTA1000 Indian Wells tennis tournament did they exit prematurely? Today, let this article take you to find out.

In 2003, Belgian player Kim Clijsters reached at least the semifinals in all four Grand Slam tournaments. That year, she not only won eight tour titles but also successfully defended her championship at the year-end finals. Moreover, Kim Clijsters ascended to the world number one ranking in 2003. Objectively speaking, it might not be excessive to say that year was the peak of her career.

However, in 2004, Kim Clijsters' performance declined sharply. Although she still won two tour titles, her form was no longer comparable to that of 2003. At the WTA1000 Indian Wells tournament, as the second seed, after sweeping past German qualifier A Roesch in the second round, she withdrew before the third round match. This marked the first time a defending champion at Indian Wells was eliminated early in the third round.

Ten years later, in 2014, Russian player Maria Sharapova, who had already won two Grand Slam titles, competed at the WTA1000 Indian Wells Open as the defending champion. As the fourth seed with a first-round bye, Sharapova comfortably defeated German player Julia Görges in the second round to advance.

Unfortunately, in the third round, during her match against Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi, she fought hard but lost in three sets, failing to progress further. It is worth noting that Chinese player Li Na performed excellently at that year's WTA1000 Indian Wells tournament, advancing to the semifinals. This remains the best achievement for a Chinese player at the WTA1000 Indian Wells event.

In 2017, Russian player Elena Vesnina, who had reached Grand Slam semifinals, achieved a six-match winning streak at the WTA1000 Indian Wells tournament, securing her first WTA1000 title. However, in 2018, after a hard-fought comeback victory against American player Catherine Bellis in the second round, she was defeated by German player Angelique Kerber in the third round, abruptly ending her title defense campaign.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, many important tennis tournaments were canceled, including the WTA1000 Indian Wells event. This made Canadian player Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 champion of that tournament, the defending champion for 2021. In the second round, she struggled through three sets to narrowly defeat American player Alison Riske to advance; in the third round, Andreescu lost to Estonian player Anett Kontaveit, failing to defend her title and subsequently falling into a slump.

From Clijsters to Andreeva, spanning 22 years, five defending champions have all fallen in the third round. Indian Wells truly is the most challenging WTA1000 tournament for defending champions to retain. Next year, who can break this curse? We shall wait and see. That concludes today's tennis story; we will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin居士)