Spain’s Paula Badosa outlasted Victoria Azarenka in a marathon encounter to win the biggest title of her career to date at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The world No.13 battled on the court for more than three hours before prevailing 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(2), over the two-time champion. Throughout the rollercoaster final Badosa had to battle back against Azarenka, who at one stage served for the match during the third set. Overall, she saved 10 out of 17 break points faced and won 52% of her service points. Badosa closed out the match by winning five out of the nine points played with outright winners in the final tiebreaker.
“It was a really tough match. I think it was a really good one, as well, because she played at an amazing level. I think I had to rise high level every set. In the final third set I think I played my best. It was the only option if I wanted to win, so I’m really proud of it,” said the new champion.
“It was like a roller coaster mentally, emotionally. It was my first final in a 1000. I had a lot of emotions,” she added.
Badosa has become the first Spanish woman in history to win the Indian Wells title and only the second in history to ever contest a final after Conchita Martinez. Her run to the trophy saw her impressively defeat four top 20 players en route, as well as Azarenka. Earlier in the tournament she defeated Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejčíková, Angelique Kerber and Ons Jabeur.
“The first thing that I’ve learned this week is that nothing is impossible. If you fight, if you work, after all these years, you can achieve anything,” she said.
“Sometimes you have tough moments. In my case I have been through tough moments. I never stopped dreaming. That’s what kept me working hard and believing until the last moment.”
The 23-year-old was widely tipped to be a star of the women’s game at a young age after lifting the French Open girls’ title back in 2015. However, that expectation weighed heavily on her shoulders with transitioning to the pro Tour proving to be a stern challenge. It wasn’t until four years after winning the junior Grand Slam title that she cracked the top 100. Since then, she has been rapidly rising on the Tour.
Badosa is not the first and probably won’t be the last teenage prodigy to be bombarded with high expectations from a young age. Asked to offer advice to others in a similar situation, she stressed the importance of having a support team.
“People think that when you’re a good junior, next year you have to be a top-20 player or top-10 player. You have a lot of expectations. People wait a lot of you, put a lot of pressure on you,” she commented.
“I think the key is to have a good team and to work day by day, to not listen a lot, and to make it simple. Sometimes we complicate things.”
Now with the Indian Wells title under her belt, Badosa has a serious shot of being able to qualify for next month’s WTA Finals in Mexico which will only feature the eight highest-ranked players in the race. She is currently eighth in the race.
“I wasn’t even thinking about that at the beginning of the week,” Badosa said of the season-ending event.
“I think I started thinking about that when I was maybe in the quarterfinals or something like that. I didn’t want to see it, but I start thinking about it. At the beginning it was impossible for me to think about that. When I saw the draw, it was a really tough one. It was tough for me to think I could win this tournament.”
Indian Wells is only the second WTA title Badosa has won in her career after the Serbian Open back in May. She will rise to a ranking high of 13th on Monday.