WTA Indian Wells: Bianca Andreescu overpowers Kerber to become desert queen
Heading to Indian Wells with an impressive 21-3 score in 2019, an 18-year-old Bianca Andreescu was eager to show her skills at Premier Mandatory event, receiving a wild card and leaving the desert with the title! A teenager played mighty efficient tennis to topple all the rivals and become the champion of one of the most significant tennis events in the world, ousting Angelique Kerber 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes for her maiden WTA crown! Playing against each other for the first time, the Canadian was the one who had the upper hand on the court, playing ball and aggressive tennis to fire 44 winners and 31 unforced errors, keeping Angelique on a more reduced 16-10 ratio.
Despite losing serve three times, the youngster won six points more overall, creating ten break chances and converting four to cross the finish line first and complete the best ten days of her tennis career. Bianca is the first player born in 2000 who won such a big tennis tournament and will crack the top-25 on Monday, continuing her charge towards the very top of women's tennis. Gathering a huge amount of confidence before the title clash, Andreescu did everything right in the opening set, losing seven points on serve and never facing a break point to mount the pressure on Kerber who fell on the first obstacle.
Bianca created four break chances in the very first game of the match and converted the last one to open an early lead, serving well and bringing the first set home with a forehand crosscourt winner for a 6-4 in 40 minutes. The German repelled two break points in the third game of the second set and she broke in the following game after a colossal forehand error from Andreescu to forge a 3-1 advantage. Kerber controlled the pace in her games by the end of the set and grabbed it after a commanding hold at 5-3 when Bianca netted a backhand slice.
They saved the biggest drama for the decider where we saw back-to-back breaks in games five and six and it was Andreescu who found an extra push with a break in game eight despite elbow and leg troubles. Serving for the title, a teenager wasted three match points in game nine to keep Kerber in the encounter before securing another break at 5-4 that pushed her towards the finish line and the brightest moment in a career so far.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Td3WNv
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