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Fritz battled through excruciating pain to end
Rafa Nadal's 20-match winning run and claim his first Masters
1000 championship last year and will hope for another story-book
finish after the main draw was announced on Monday.
Facing a depleted men's field, Fritz could run into Denmark's
Holger Rune in the quarter-final. Seventh-seed Rune also won his
first masters title last year when he outlasted 22-times major
winner Novak Djokovic in Paris.
Red-hot Daniil Medvedev, who collected his third straight title
in Dubai this month, is on a collision course to meet
third-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final eight, while
Spain's top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz could face Canadian Felix
Auger-Aliassime in the quarters.
World number one Djokovic withdrew from the tournament on Sunday
and Nadal, who aggravated a hip problem in his second-round loss
at the Australian Open and has not played since, also pulled
out.
On the women's side, Swiatek looks as though she could have
little trouble collecting a second straight title in the
southern California desert after cruising to victory a year ago
amid a blockbuster unbeaten streak.
She could meet WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia in the
quarter finals after beginning her campaign against either
American Claire Liu or Belgian Alison van Uytvanck, with
Canadian Andreescu also enjoying the first-round bye.
Fresh off her maiden Grand Slam win in Australia, second seed
Aryna Sabalenka will face either Alize Cornet or Evgeniya Rodina
to begin the tournament.
She has the chance to exact a little bit of revenge against
potential fourth-round foe Barbora Krejcikova, after the 2021
French Open winner ended her 13-match winning streak in Dubai
last month.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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