The first Premier Mandatory tournament of the WTA season in 2015 unfolds at Indian Wells over the next week and a half. With 96 women converging on the California desert, the unexpected can and surely will happen. Here are a few thoughts at the outset on the draw.

Top Half Analysis:

The big news in the top half of the draw is the return of Serena Williams, who hasn’t played in the desert since 2001, when she was forced to deal with an onslaught of racist comments and general animosity directed towards her from fans.

Serena’s draw is more than favorable. There’s really no player in her quarter that appears to pose a major threat. The lower part of Serena’s quarter includes the red hot Timea Bacsinszky, who recently won titles in Acapulco and Monterrey. Doha winner, Lucie Safarova, is also in Serena’s quarter and could face young gun Elina Svitolina in the third round. Svitolina has already challenged the likes of Serena, Petra Kvitova, and Victoria Azarenka within the first few months of 2015.

The bottom part of Serena’s half is spearheaded by third seed Simona Halep. Halep could face the winner of a potential blockbuster third-round match between rising stars Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova. Aga Radwanska could be Halep’s potential quarterfinal opponent, but she’ll likely have to deal with the mercurial Camila Giorgi and the in-form Carla Suarez Navarro before that happens.

As far as the semifinals are concerned, it wouldn’t be surprising if Muguruza or Pliskova ends up stunning Halep down the road, but don’t expect Serena to fall short of the final this time around. Her draw is tailor-made for her to make a deep run.

Semifinal Prediction:  Serena Williams d. Karolina Pliskova

Bottom Half Analysis:

No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova is going to have her work cut out for her. We all knew Victoria Azarenka would be set up to play a top seed early on in the tournament, and unfortunately for Sharapova, she is that seed. A third round between Sharapova and Azarenka would send one of the best players in the world home early, regardless of the outcome.

The winner of a potential Sharapova-Azarenka match could end up facing defending champion Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round. In that section, an all-American first-round match to keep a close eye on is Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Taylor Townsend.

A big sleeper in this event could be France’s Caroline Garcia. She was a finalist in Acapulco and Monterrey, where she lost to Switzerland’s Bacsinszky in both events. Her section of the draw includes Sara Errani, Sabine Lisicki, and Ana Ivanovic, all players Garcia could feasibly beat at the moment.

The top part of the bottom half of the draw is pretty wide open. The seeded players here are Caroline Wozniacki, Belinda Bencic, Jelena Jankovic, Madison Keys, Andrea Petkovic, Alize Cornet, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Eugenie Bouchard. While Bouchard and Wozniacki are the theoretical favorites to make it out of this section, it wouldn’t be implausible if any of these other seeded players made a splash over the next 11 days.

Semifinal Prediction:  Victoria Azarenka d. Caroline Wozniacki

Finals Prediction:  Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka