Indian Wells, CA, USA, 4 March 2014 | tennis.com.au

Sam Stosur and a troupe of Aussie men have on Monday been placed in the draws for the upcoming BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Stosur is seeded 16th in the Californian desert, receiving a bye into the second round.

There, she will meet the winner of the match between Germany’s Mona Barthel and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

Her projected opponent in the third round is No.20 seed Flavia Pennetta, a player who owns a dominant 4-0 winning record over Stosur.

The Australian is also in the same section of the draw as fourth seed Maria Sharapova, who looms as an opponent in the round of 16.

> check out the Indian Wells draw sheets

In men’s qualifying, a four-strong contingent will take to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in a bid to reach the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000-level event.

Among them is 17-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis, who has drawn second seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in his first round match.

Compatriot Matt Reid takes on sixth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, while John-Patrick Smith has been drawn to play No.12 seed Wayne Odesnik of the United States.

Sam Groth is the highest-ranked of the Aussies in qualifying and is seeded 22nd; he will face American junior and wildcard Stefan Kozlov.

Players must win two rounds of qualifying in order to reach the main draw.

Our Aussie men will contest their first round qualifying matches on Tuesday alongside female compatriots Casey Dellacqua and Olivia Rogowska, who each stand one win away from the main draw.

> read more about Dellacqua and Rogowska’s first round qualifying victories