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The BNP Paribas Open 2019 in the Californian desert saw interesting and refreshing similarities in the results of the men’s and women’s sides of the draw.
Let’s start with the champions on the either side. On a super Sunday in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, 18- year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu upset No. 8 seed Angelique Kerber in the final to win the biggest title of her career so far.
Andreescu's rise as a champion in the first event of the 'sunshine double' was undoubtedly the most sensational story of the week. Apart from Kerber, Andreescu went past stern tests from Elina Svitolina and Garbine Muguruza en route her incredible journey to the title.
The inspirational display from Andreescu throughout the tournament at 18 not only speaks about her raw potential, but also indicates the maturity that she has about her game at such an early age. Her emergence now adds a new and exciting dimension to the women’s game as we approach the clay season.
Similar to the women’s side of the draw, on the men’s side too we saw a first-time Masters winner. Austria's Dominic Thiem conquered the legend Roger Federer in 3 scintillating sets of tennis to win the biggest title of his so far stop-start career.
Tipped as the next King of Clay, Thiem had an incredible week in California. He played one of the best matches of the year against Canadian Milos Raonic to set up a blockbuster showdown against the Swiss maestro in the finals.
Thiem’s monumental victory can act as a stepping stone for his upcoming career, and this might just be the first sign of a possible change of guard in tennis. A player who always appeared to be a giant-killer, has for the first time in his career managed to go the distance, bringing justice to his immense potential.
Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal suffered similar fates. The former had to retire mid-match against Muguruza owing to a viral illness and the latter had to pull out from his epic semi-final meet against Federer due to the knee injury that he sustained in his quarterfinal clash against Russian Karen Khachanov.
March 12 could be called a day of upsets, as women’s No. 2 Simon Halep and men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic faced shock upsets in their Round of 16 and Round of 32 matches respectively. To add to that list of casualties women's top seed Naomi Osaka suffered an unexpected defeat, also in her Round of 16 match-up, against Belinda Bencic.
The results at Indian Wells were a little unexpected, but they have ushered in a breath of fresh air too. As we anticipate yet another hard-fought tournament in Miami, which starts in less than one week’s time., the list of contenders has suddenly shot up.
Nadal has decided to skip the Miami Open so as to get fit, up and running just in time before the commencement of the clay season in about a month’s time. The onus once again will be on Djokovic and Federer to win the title in Miami before they can start their journey on the red dirt.
On the women’s side of the draw, the competition looks to be wide open with all kinds of results possible. However, one can expect Australian Open finalists Osaka and Petra Kvitova alongside Halep and Serena to brush aside the disappointments of Indian Wells and put up a much improved performance in Miami.
