Championship Sunday in Indian Wells pitted youth against experience, with a pair of deserving champions overcoming the odds to topple Grand Slam champions for the biggest titles of their careers.
Teenage Canadian wild card Bianca Andreescu shocked reigning Wimbledon champ Angelique Kerber to claim her first WTA title, and Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down to beat Roger Federer to claim his first Masters 1000 trophy.
Andreescu capped her dream run at the BNP Paribas Open with an impressive 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over 2016 US Open champion Kerber, a former world No. 1 who has three Slam titles on her resume.
Competing in the main draw of an event of this magnitude for the first time, Andreescu showed few signs of feeling overwhelmed by the occasion at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Ranked No. 178 to begin 2019, the Canadian entered Indian Wells ranked No. 60 in the world. On the back of a sparkling fortnight, she has climbed to a career-best No. 24.
She rallied from a set down to beat Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round before securing four consecutive straight-set wins, including a headline-grabbing 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Garbiñe Muguruza.
Andreescu then defeated No. 6 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in the semifinals to set up a finale against Kerber.
"It's been a crazy ride. Truly a Cinderella story. Naomi did this last year. And now to be able to have my name in front of so many amazing champions is, it means the world to me." — Andreescu to WTATennis.com
In the men's final Sunday evening, 25-year-old Thiem, contesting his third Masters 1000 final, beat Federer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Thiem reached the Madrid final in 2017 and 2018, falling to Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev, respectively. But the third time proved to be the lucky charm for the Austrian, who celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by falling onto his back on the green court behind the baseline and becoming the first player from his country to lift a Masters 1000 crown since Thomas Muster 22 years ago.
"It was a great week and I think also a very good final today,” Thiem told ATPTour.com. “Just amazing that I got here, my first really big title. I came from a really bad form in all categories, and now I'm the champion of Indian Wells. It feels not real at all."
In addition to beating Federer, who was the fresher of the two finalists after receiving a walkover in his semifinal against Nadal, Thiem also defeated seeds Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon, as well as the always-dangerous, big-serving Ivo Karlovic.
The title moves Thiem to fourth—tied for his career-high mark—in the new rankings, which were released today. It is the biggest of his 12 career titles and means he has now lifted at least one trophy in each of the past five years.
Thiem's victory stopped Federer in his bid for his 101st career title, which would have left him eight short of the all-time men's record, held by Jimmy Connors.
