1996 State Farm Evert Cup – Singles

Steffi Graf defeated Conchita Martínez in the final, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–5) to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1996 Indian Wells Masters.

Mary Joe Fernández was the defending champion, but lost in the third round to Nathalie Tauziat.

Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top nine seeds received a bye to the second round.


 * 1) 🇩🇪 Steffi Graf (champion)
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Conchita Martínez (final)
 * 3) n/a
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Kimiko Date (semifinals)
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Chanda Rubin (quarterfinals)
 * 6)  Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (third round)
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Lindsay Davenport (semifinals)
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Mary Joe Fernández (third round)
 * 9)  Amanda Coetzer (quarterfinals)
 * 10) 🇫🇷 Julie Halard-Decugis (third round)
 * 11) 🇺🇸 Amy Frazier (first round)
 * 12) 🇺🇸 Zina Garrison-Jackson (first round)
 * 13) 🇫🇷 Nathalie Tauziat (quarterfinals)
 * 14)  Irina Spîrlea (third round)
 * 15) 🇦🇹 Judith Wiesner (third round)
 * 16) 🇺🇸 Lisa Raymond (second round)
 * 17) 🇯🇵 Naoko Sawamatsu (second round)