Top stars take aim at Indian Wells title

INDIAN WELLS, California, Mar 8 (AFP): World number ones Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki lead a world-class field into the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, a combined WTA and ATP Masters series event that begins Wednesday. Instant replay will be available for the first time on all eight competition courts at the desert resort oasis, where Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic and Serbian Jelena Jankovic will defend their crowns. Women's main draw matches begin Wednesday while the men start Thursday. In each case, top seeds have first-round byes, pushing the debut matches for most of the major stars to the weekend. Nadal, a nine-time Grand Slam champion who won 2007 and 2009 Indian Wells titles, ended a five-week layoff last week in a first-round Davis Cup tie and seeks another deep run after losing to Ljubicic in last year's semi-finals. Nadal could join US legends Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang and Swiss world number two Roger Federer as a three-time winner at Indian Wells. Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam singles champion, comes in off a loss to third-ranked Novak Djokovic in the Dubai final and a week of workouts to prepare himself for the challenge of the US hardcourts. "I feel like I need more practice, just a little bit here and there," said Federer. "It's going to be different conditions again. It's going to be flying but it's going to be slower. So it's going to be a challenge to balance those two things in Indian Wells."