Paula Badosa wins 2021 BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells

Paula Badosa capped off a brilliant week in the California desert (WTA BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells) with another sensational win in the final over Victoria Azarenka 7-6(5) 2-6 7-6(2).

A brilliant week of tennis ended up with the fairytale ending for Paula Badosa. The Spanish player completed a majestic late comeback in the 3rd set to win her maiden WTA 1000 Masters title. Azarenka fought very hard in the match but ultimately her level dropped off in the crucial game when she serve for the match. The start of the match showed just what kind of match fans in attendance could expect.

Long draining rallies in the scorching sun of the Californian desert is a fun spectacle for the fans, not so much for the players. Games were long with both players not giving much. Azarenka was the more aggressive one attacking with Badosa usually defending and she defended superbly. Both had early break points but neither found a breakthrough.

The first one came midway through the set with Badosa taking a 4-3 lead but Azarenka made it 4-4. She broke Vika once more for a 6-5 lead but once again failed to serve it out. In the tiebreak, the win was sealed by an error from Azareank and a brilliant counter-punching winner from Badosa. Over an hour long and very draining. That is why Badosa came out really flat in the 2nd set failing to do much right.

Azarenka took a quick lead and that lead snowballed into a 6-2 2nd set win for Azarenka. The start of the 3rd featured early breaks for both after which the score was 2-2. Both of them went all out in the next few games hitting the ball as hard as they can with moderate success for both. At 4-4, Badosa had 40-15 but after that, she committed 4 unforced errors to lose the game and set up Azarenka for the win.

With the match being iconic as it was, it did not end there as Badosa broke back to make it 5-5. We went on to the tiebreak where the Spaniard jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Azarenka was not playing a very good tiebreak at all with the Spaniard all over her. She finished it off with 7-2.