INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – UCLA standout Mackenzie McDonald was one of eight Americans granted a wildcard into the BNP Paribas Open, to be held March 7-20, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. 

The Bruin is currently ranked 19th in the ITA Division I Men's Singles Rankings and boasts a 7-1 record in dual match singles.  McDonald is 6-1 against ranked opponents, his only loss at the hands of then No. 11 Ryan Shane of top-ranked Virginia on Feb. 9.  The junior has downed two top-10 players—No. 8 Aurthur Rinderknech of TAMU (Feb. 13) and No. 4 Tom Fawcett of Stanford (Feb. 27).  His straight-set win over Fawcett earned McDonald his third Pac-12 Tennis Player of the Week honor of the season, the fourth of his career.  

Last fall, the Bruin took home the title at the American Collegiate Invitational at the U.S. Open.  McDonald swept Austin Gonzales of Vanderbilt, 6-2, 7-5, in the final to capture UCLA's second straight ACI title.  In December, McDonald defeated Gregory Jacq in straights to help lead the United States to a 4-1 victory over France in the Master'U BNP Paribas Finals.  The win marked the sixth victory (fifth consecutive) in the competition for the United States. 

Last year at Indian Wells, McDonald won his opening round qualifying match against Farrukh Dustov in three sets before falling to Michael Berrer, 6-4, 6-4. 

The BNP Paribas Open is the largest two-week combined ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier professional tennis tournament in the world. It is held annually in March and features the top men and women professional players competing in a 96 singles draw and 32 doubles draw. The tournament offers more than $10 million in prize money with each of the Champions earning a $1 million prize purse.

Tickets and Packages can be purchased online or from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Box Office by calling 800.999.1585.