The finalists of the ATX Open in Austin were spared a gruelling late-night trip to Indian Wells following Sunday’s action after American Jessica Pegula flew them to the tournament in the Californian desert in her private jet.

Pegula, whose billionaire parents own Buffalo’s NFL and NHL franchises, won the singles title in Austin defeating compatriot McCartney Kessler 7-5 6-2 but hung around as Kessler and Zhang Shuai lost to Yuan Yue and Anna Blinkova in the doubles final.

With the players then facing a quick turnaround ahead of the Indian Wells main draw beginning on Wednesday, Pegula offered to fly all of them to California for the WTA 1000 tournament.

Zhang thanked Pegula for her generosity on Instagram, adding that they would otherwise have faced a late night layover in Los Angeles or trips to nearby airports in Dallas and Houston.

“You know she can leave away right after her singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl,” Zhang wrote.

“This message is NOT to show I took the jet, just wanted to appreciate and transferring the love.”

Blinkova also shared Zhang’s story on Instagram and thanked world number four Pegula, who has amassed more than $17 million in prize money in her career.

China’s Yue also expressed gratitude to US Open runner-up Pegula on social media for the luxurious ride.

“Otherwise, we would all have been on the road for at least nine hours,” she added.

Blinkova will play Kessler in the first round at Indian Wells, while Yue will play Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.

Pegula, seeded fourth, has been given a first-round bye, while Zhang will enter the doubles event later in the tournament.

Kyrgios looking to line up Djokovic match

Nick Kyrgios has not won a singles match since 2022, but if he can win one this week he will find himself facing his buddy Novak Djokovic across the net.

Kyrgios, whose singles career has dropped off the charts due to a series of injuries, has utilised his protected ranking to enter the ATP Masters 1000 at Indian Wells, often billed as the fifth major.

He has been paired with a qualifier in the first round, identity as yet unknown, with the winner to play Djokovic, who as sixth seed has received a first-round bye.

Whoever emerges from that section of the draw is scheduled to meet Alex de Minaur in the last 16, as long as the Australian number one can get past whoever wins the first-round match between David Goffin and Lorenzo Sonego, and then, probably, number 21 seed Hubert Hurkacz.

Next up for Kyrgios, Djokovic, de Minaur — or someone else, is slated to be defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. But there’s a lot of tennis to be played first including Dennis Shapovalov looming as a third round threat to the holder.

Kyrgios is one of the few players on tour who holds a winning record against Djokovic. 

He has been victorious in two of their three meetings, including at Indian Wells in 2017, but lost the biggest, the 2022 Wimbledon final. 

Once bitterly opposed, the pair are now friends and played thrilling doubles matches together in Brisbane at the start of the year.

Djokovic is a five-time winner in the Californian desert event, but all predate that 2017 meeting with Kyrgios. He will again have Andy Murray in his corner, the Scot having resumed the coaching relationship launched at the Australian Open.

De Minaur has never gone beyond the fourth round at Indian Wells, but will be confident of at least reaching the third having never lost to Sonego or Goffin in nine combined meetings. He’s 1-1 with Hurkacz and 1-2 with Djokovic.

Kyrgios and de Minaur are among seven Australians meriting a place in the main draw, with at least one, perhaps two, joining through qualifying.

Jordan Thompson, Chris O’Connell, Aleksandar Vukic, Rinky Hijikata and Alexei Popyrin went straight into the draw, with the latter given a first round bye as number 28 seed. 

Li Tu beat compatriot James Duckworth 6-4, 6-2 to come through qualifying, with Adam Walton edging past American Michael Mmoh 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

One name who will not be there is Jannik Sinner as the world number one is serving his three-month ban for a doping violation.

There is also a change in court surface which should make the notoriously slow courts slightly quicker, and less like clay, especially as the early forecast is for cooler, possibly wet weather. That should favour most of the Aussie contingent.

On the women’s side of the draw, Australia had no players automatically enter the draw, but Maddison Inglis, Kim Birrell, Ajla Tomljanović and Maya Joint all progressed through the qualifying tournament.

Reuters/AAP