Simona Halep clinched her first ever Premeir Mandatory and her biggest title so far after coming back from a set and a break down against 2010 Indian Well champion Jelena Jankovic. Halep dropped the first set in which he hit 8 winners to 18 unforced errors.
Jankovic broke early in the second set to open up a 3-1 lead. Halep broke back but Jankovic broke twice more for 4-3 and 5-4. She served for the match at 5-4 but Halep did not give up and won three games in a row to clinch the second set with 7-5 after 63 minutes.
Both players traded breaks three times in the third set. Jankovic broke for 2-1 but Halep broke back to draw level to 3-3 before breaking for 5-3. Jankovic broke back but Halep sealed the win with a crucial break in the 11th game of the match to win 2-6 7-5 6-4. Halep won her biggest title . Before Indian Wells she won a Premier 5 title in Doha. Halep, who took advantage of a walkover following Serena Williams’ withdrawal because of injury, won her third title of the year after Shenzhen and Dubai.
“First of all I want to congratulate with Jelena. She was amaing. You did a great job. This is my biggets title and I will never forget it”, said Halep
After Indian Wells Jankovic will return in the top-20 in the WTA Ranking . She admitted that she was was unsure if she could play after suffering from a hip injury in Doha.
“I was limping three days before the tournament started. I was in doubt if I could even play. When I came to these courts I hadn’t hit a ball for ten days”, said Jankovic
