Rising stars and a Grand Slam finalist are among those in action on Day 2 of main draw play at the BNP Paribas Open.

Here are five things to watch at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden:

Precocious Tien makes debut at home event

Born in Irvine, close to Los Angeles, Learner Tien told the ATP he’s been coming to Indian Wells since he was a toddler. Now instead of watching the action with his parents, the 19-year-old features in the main draw.

As an indication of how far Tien has risen in the last 12 months, he lost in qualifying last year ranked 785th. But a fourth-round berth at the Australian Open as a qualifier — beating two-time desert finalist Daniil Medvedev in the process — and recent quarterfinal in Acapulco suggest his qualifying days are long gone.

Heading into 2025, Tien’s main goal was to crack the top 100. Currently at 68th, the lefty reassessed his targets and his eyes are now set on the top 50. Tien’s challenger is Mariano Navone, who experienced a similar rise in 2024 thanks largely to his clay mastery. The oft-smiling Argentine also makes his Indian Wells main-draw debut.

Fonseca, another Next Gen star, starts, too

Navone is becoming accustomed to playing talented Next Genners. He faced Joao Fonseca in Buenos Aires in February and as it turned out, came closer to beating the 18-year-old Brazilian than anyone else. Navone led 5-3 in the third set in the quarterfinals and
even had two match points. Fonseca’s escape act added to his burgeoning aura, as did going all the way in Buenos Aires to collect a first ATP title.

The heavy hitting Rio native sports a 22-4 record in his last 26 matches but his opponent, Jacob Fearnley, has done a lot of winning, too, after his successful time at Texas Christian University concluded. The two met at a Challenger in Australia in January, with Fonseca only losing 11 points on serve in his 6-3 6-3 victory. Only one spot separates the duo in the rankings. Fonseca sits at 80th and the Scot ranks 81st.

Bencic returns to desert as mom

After a retirement win against Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open, Belinda Bencic said she wasn’t putting too much pressure on herself during her comeback. “It’s not really about winning right now,” said Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella last April. “It's really about improving myself and getting back there, to be able to kind of also play the biggest tournaments again and be up there ranking-wise.”

It didn’t take long for Bencic to deliver. The 2021 Olympic gold medalist ended up making the fourth round in Melbourne and won her next event in Abu Dhabi. As a result, the (still only) 27-year-old shot up to 58th.

Her Florida-based German foe, Tatjana Maria, has traveled the world with her family — she has two daughters — for a while. Demonstrating their longevity, Bencic and the 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist last faced off 10 years ago in Miami.

Kyrgios faces dangerous lucky loser

Nick Kyrgios always seems to come up against high seeds in Indian Wells. He lost to Rafael Nadal in his last match in 2022, beat Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev in 2017 and was also due to meet Roger Federer and Jannik Sinner. Sinner gave Kyrgios a walkover three years ago, with the Australian pulling out against Federer (stomach illness) after his wins over Zverev and Djokovic in 2017.

If Kyrgios is to meet pal Djokovic in the second round on Saturday, he’ll have to beat a lucky loser. The signs aren’t good, since he cut short practice this week due to pain in his problematic right wrist.

The lucky loser, too, is none other than Botic van de Zandschulp. The Dutchman engineered two huge wins in 2024, beating Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open and downing Rafael Nadal in what turned out to be Nadal’s final match. Is the stage set for another van de Zandschulp upset this week?

Kessler looks for first Indian Wells win

Glancing at the women’s calendar-year standings, six Americans feature in the top 20. They are Madison Keys, Emma Navarro, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and a player that might be lesser known — for now — McCartney Kessler.

A three-time All American at the University of Florida, Kessler is making a smooth transition to the pro tour. The Georgia native — who hails from a tennis family — won her first WTA title in January in Australia, then made another final just last week in Austin, losing to Pegula. In the middle, Kessler downed Gauff for a maiden top 10 win.

The 25-year-old plays Anna Blinkova, whose biggest claim to fame might be winning the longest singles tiebreak in Grand Slam history last year against Grand Slam winner Elena Rybakina (22-20).

Blinkova also beat Pegula last year in Indian Wells. If the pair needed any extra motivation, the winner gets top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round.