The Indian Wells Open is one of the most-loved tournaments on the circuit among American players, but no woman from the United States has lifted the trophy in California in more than two decades.

Serena Williams is the last home player to win the WTA 1000 event, and that was back in 2001 when she defeated Kim Clijsters in the final to win her second title.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner is also the last American woman to reach a final in California as she was beaten by Victoria Azarenka in the 2016 showpiece match.

The Indian Wells Open has been won by an American on eight occasions, but four women have shared those eight titles with each of them winning it twice.

Besides her 2001 title, Williams also lifted the trophy in 1999 while Martina Navratilova (1990 and 1991), Mary Joe Fernandez (1993 and 1995) and Lindsay Davenport (1997 and 2000) are the other three on that list.

There is high hope that the new crop of American women’s tennis stars will end that 24-year drought, as they have several high-profile names in the 2025 main draw.

There are currently three American women in the top five of the WTA Rankings with Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys leading the way while Emma Navarro (10), Danielle Collins (14) and Amanda Anisimova (17) are also seeded.

“I think that the US women have pretty consistently done really well,” the recently crowned Australian Open champion Keys said. “I think it’s probably been a little while since there has been so many American women doing as well as they are.

“But I’m really excited. I think not only are there the names that everyone obviously knows and are a little bit more established, but there’s also a ton of up-and-comers that are doing really, really well.

“I would not be surprised if you saw some really great results from the US women.”

The 20-year-old Gauff wasn’t born when Williams won the title in 2001, but she is hopeful of “bringing the Cup home”.

“Every year they love to remind us of that stat when we compete. We’re all like, who’s it going to be,” the world No 3 said.

“I was in the semis last year so I was hoping it would be me. Hopefully this year we can, and if it’s not me I hopefully it’s an American. I just feel like this is the biggest tournament we probably have outside of US Open, and we have to somehow figure out how to bring the Cup home.

“But I think Taylor [Fritz] was the last American in general to win. So hopefully we can maybe do a double and have a woman and male win. That would be cool.”

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McCartney Kessler, who finished runner-up to Pegula at the ATX Open last week, Sofia Kenin and rising stars Peyton Stearns, Whitney Osuigwe and Iva Jovic will also feature.

Nineteen American women entered the main draw in the 2024 edition and Gauff and Emma Navarro reached the quarter-final with Gauff going on to lose in the semi-final.

Gauff was also best of the home challengers the previous year when she exited in the quarter-final while Madison Keys reached the same stage in 2022.

The 2023 US Open winner hopes the American women will inspire each other to further glory at the Indian Wells Open.

“I think just a push, we’re all pushing each other to do better. Americans, especially on the women, but now the men have strong depth, and I think that it just inspires us to do more. You see one win a tournament and you also want to do that,” she said.

“I think it’s just a healthy competition between us. We all support each other obviously when we’re not playing each other. But I root for all the Americans, and all of them are nice. I don’t really have any issues with any of them, which I think is great, especially considering how competitive the field is.”