Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt defeated Gustavo Kuerten in the final, 6–1, 6–1 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2003 Indian Wells Masters. Hewitt saved three match points in his first round encounter against Younes El Aynaoui.

Seeds

• # 🇦🇺 Lleyton Hewitt (champion) • # 🇺🇸 Andre Agassi (withdrew due to a shoulder injury) • # 🇪🇸 Juan Carlos Ferrero (second round) • # Roger Federer (second round) • # 🇪🇸 Carlos Moyá (third round) • # 🇺🇸 Andy Roddick (quarterfinals) • # 🇷🇺 Marat Safin (third round) • # 🇪🇸 Albert Costa (second round) • # 🇨🇿 Jiří Novák (second round, withdrew due to a virus) • # 🇦🇷 David Nalbandian (first round) • # 🇫🇷 Sébastien Grosjean (third round) • # 🇹🇭 Paradorn Srichaphan (first round) • # 🇬🇧 Tim Henman (second round) • # Sjeng Schalken (second round) • # 🇩🇪 Rainer Schüttler (semifinals) • # 🇪🇸 Àlex Corretja (second round) • # 🇦🇷 Gastón Gaudio (first round, retired due to a virus)

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4

Qualifying

Qualifying seeds

• # 🇺🇸 Vince Spadea (qualified) • # 🇰🇷 Lee Hyung-taik (qualified) • # 🇧🇪 Olivier Rochus (qualifying competition, lucky loser) • # 🇧🇷 André Sá (first round) • # Michel Kratochvil (qualified) • # 🇸🇰 Karol Beck (qualified) • # 🇩🇪 Nicolas Kiefer (qualified) • # 🇺🇸 Robby Ginepri (qualified) • # 🇺🇸 Brian Vahaly (qualified) • # 🇦🇲 Sargis Sargsian (qualified) • # 🇵🇪 Luis Horna (qualifying competition) • # 🇦🇷 Franco Squillari (qualifying competition) • # 🇫🇷 Jean-René Lisnard (qualifiying competition) • # 🇺🇸 Justin Gimelstob (first round) • # 🇸🇪 Magnus Norman (qualifying competition) • # Kristian Pless (qualifying competition)

Qualifiers

• # 🇺🇸 Vince Spadea • # 🇰🇷 Lee Hyung-taik • # 🇺🇸 Brian Vahaly • # 🇦🇲 Sargis Sargsian • # Michel Kratochvil • # 🇸🇰 Karol Beck • # 🇩🇪 Nicolas Kiefer • # 🇺🇸 Robby Ginepri

Lucky loser

Qualifying draw

First qualifier

Second qualifier

Third qualifier

Fourth qualifier

Fifth qualifier

Sixth qualifier

Seventh qualifier

Eighth qualifier