Indian Wells, CA, USA, 7 March 2017 | tennis.com.au

Five Australians will take their place in the main draw at the combined ATP/WTA event in Indian Wells, beginning this week in the Californian desert.

Nick Kyrgios will head our male contingent as the top-ranked Aussie; the world No.16 is joined in the draw by compatriots Bernard Tomic and Jordan Thompson.

As a seed, Kyrgios will enjoy a first-round bye before attempting to advance beyond the second round at the tournament for the first time in what will be his third visit.

Sam Stosur and Daria Gavrilova will both be seeded in the women’s main draw and like Kyrgios will receive opening-round byes.

The Aussie duo will not play their second-round matches until the weekend, after women’s qualifying and first-round matches are staged earlier this week.

Croatian-born Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic will enter the draw via a protected ranking.

Aussies Andrew Whittington, Sam Groth and Matt Ebden will take their place in men’s qualifying this week, as well as Aussie teen Alex De Minaur, who received a qualifying wildcard.

Ash Barty missed a shot to contest Indian Wells qualifying, unable to arrive in time after playing all the way through to finals weekend in Kuala Lumpur.

The Queenslander will now hope to score a doubles wildcard with Casey Dellacqua.