Indian Wells, CA, USA, 8 March 2017 | Matt Trollope

Nick Kyrgios faces a tough path through the BNP Paribas Open field after the men’s draw was conducted on Tuesday at Indian Wells.

Kyrgios, the 15th seed, is the highest-ranked Aussie in a draw also containing Bernard Tomic and Jordan Thompson.

Kyrgios enjoys a first-round bye before a second-round meeting with either Horacio Zeballos or a qualifier.

Should the seedings hold, he would face No.18 seed Alexander Zverev in the third round and second seed and three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic, whom he beat just last week in Acapulco.

If he were to advance to the quarters, he would likely face the winner of the much-anticipated fourth-round battle between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Tomic, meanwhile, opens against American wildcard Bjorn Fratagelo while Thompson has drawn Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov.

Alex De Minaur and Andrew Whittington won their first-round qualifying matches on Tuesday and both stand just one win away from joining their Aussie compatriots in the main draw.

> De Minaur, Whittington advance at Indian Wells

In the WTA draw, Sam Stosur could face a second-round battle with fellow Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who is continuing her comeback from shoulder surgery.

Tomljanovic played her first match in 13 months last week in Acapulco, defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the first round.

She retired – citing shoulder soreness – after the first set of her second-round match, and this week enters Indian Wells using a protected ranking.

She opens against Julia Goerges, with the winner to face Stosur.

Stosur, the 16th seed, has been awarded a first-round bye.

So has No.24 seed Daria Gavrilova; the Melburnian will in the second round take on the winner of the match between Laura Siegemund and Yanina Wickmayer.