CANADIAN teenager Bianca Andreescu stunned eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-4 3-6 6-4 to win the BNP Paribas Open and capture her first career title in Indian Wells on Sunday.
Andreescu used creative and aggressive shot-making to defeat the German despite suffering with a troublesome right shoulder on a hot and sunny day in the Southern California desert.
The 18-year-old dropped her racket and fell on her back when Kerber hit a backhand into the net on match point to deliver the tournament wildcard the biggest win of her young career.
“It was one of the toughest matches I’ve ever played,” she said in an on-court interview. “It’s so incredible.”
Andreescu would love to follow in the footsteps of world number one Naomi Osaka of Japan, who won the tournament last year before claiming the U.S. and Australian Opens.
“The next is a Grand Slam. Let’s see where this can take me,” the teenager, ranked 60th in the world, said.
Andreescu played fearlessly at the outset, breaking the former world number one Kerber, seeded eighth, in the opening game of the match and taking the first set.
Kerber battled back to claim the second and looked like she would cruise to the finish line when she broke to go up 3-2 in the third after Andreescu needed a medical time out to have her heavily taped right shoulder worked on by a trainer.
Momentum swung in Andreescu’s direction when she broke back to level the set at 3-3 and held serve to love in the next game.
Nerves appeared to get to the Canadian near the end, when Kerber saved three match points behind some stout defence.
But Andreescu broke the German in the next game to win the title on the 14,000-seat stadium court.
“Hopefully this moment can be a great inspiration for many young athletes,” she said during the trophy ceremony.
“If you believe in yourself anything is possible. This moment has become a reality so it’s really, really crazy.”
With the win, Andreescu, who was ranked 152 at the end of last season, is expected to reach the WTA top 30. -- REUTERS