Juan Martin del Potro fell 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Rafael Nadal in the final, ending his winning streak under the new pope. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
The ATP and WTA brought their A-games to the California desert for the BNP Paribas Open.
As the tour heads to Miami for the Sony Open, here’s a look back at 10 of the best shots of the tournament.
10. More than just a quote machine: Mercurial Latvian Ernests Gulbis shows off his speed and touch against Rafael Nadal.
Maria Sharapova defeated Caroline Wozniacki for her second career Indian Wells title Sunday. (Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Maria Sharapova was all business in her 6-2, 6-2 win over Caroline Wozniacki in the finals of the BNP Paribas Open, the Russian’s first title of the season and 28th overall. The victory also consolidates her bump in the rankings. On Monday, Sharapova will displace Victoria Azarenka at No. 2 behind Serena Williams.
A few thoughts on Sharapova’s dominant run — she didn’t drop a set in her six matches — to her biggest title since the 2012 French Open:
• Sharapova was just “too good”: That was Wozniacki’s take on what happened and the statistics back her up. Sharapova hit 33 winners to Wozniacki’s two and finished with a a plus-8 differential in winners to unforced errors while Wozniacki was minus-17. It was top-notch display of aggressive hitting from Sharapova, and the Dane’s effective defensive style didn’t have a chance. It was just Sharapova’s day to zone.
Rafeal Nadal is in the finals of the BNP Paribas Open despite some hesitancy heading into the week. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Rafael Nadal came into the BNP Paribas Open last week not knowing how his body would react in his first hard court tournament in almost a year. A week and a half on, he’s into his first hard court final since the 2012 Australian Open after continuing his fantastic form here with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Tomas Berdych. On Sunday he’ll meet the man who has upended the men’s draw in the span of 24 hours, Juan Martin del Potro. The big-hitting Argentine came back from a set down to beat Andy Murray in the quarterfinals and returned today to do the same against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, overcoming a 0-3 deficit in the third set to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Now fess up: Who saw this final coming?
Definitely not Nadal. He couldn’t stop smiling after making his first ATP Masters 1000 hard court final since Miami in 2011. ”The things seem always almost impossible until the things are done,” Nadal said after the match. The tournament has been a resounding success for him, especially after beating two Top 10 players in Roger Federer and Berdych in back-to-back matches on his least favorite surface. Nadal has a history of talking down his chances at tournaments but even he shrugged when asked whether he believed he could win the tournament. “I cannot still saying these kind of things after a lot of success that I had, but any opponent tomorrow will be a very difficult opponent,” Nadal said. ”Today I am just here, and for me is a present (gift) to be here.”
“I don’t have nothing to lose after seven months. I did much more than what I dreamed.”
While there is little to lose for Nadal there is much to gain. He’s going for his 600th career win on Sunday and, currently tied with Federer for the most ATP Masters 1000 titles at 21, a win would give him the most ATP Masters 1000 titles since 1990. A title would also boost him to No. 4 in the rankings on Monday ahead of David Ferrer.
But can he stop the buzzsaw that is Del Potro? The 2009 U.S. Open champion has had a solid but not spectacular start to 2013, with a surprising third round loss at the Australian Open and losses to Djokovic in Dubai and Gilles Simon in Marseille. He finds himself in his first BNP Paribas Open final on the strength of his forehand, backhand slice, and fight. He’s hitting that forehand as good as he was back in 2009 when he won his one and only Slam, but it’s his slice that has been causing opponents problems. Against Murray and Djokovic, Del Potro was able to use the shot effectively both as a defensive tactic and on offense, keeping the ball low to his opponents backhand until he could get a short ball to hit.
“I use it because my coach told me that, so thanks to him,” Del Potro said after he beat Murray.
“I don’t know if I’m going to use tomorrow against Rafa because he’s lefty and he move really, really fast in the baseline. But what I know about him is [I need to] play more aggressive than today, trying to make a few winners with my forehands, coming a lot to the net, and I need to serve well also.”
Del Potro hasn’t beaten Nadal since 2009 (the Spaniard leads their head-to-head 7-3) but his three wins did come on hard courts on the biggest of stages. During his stellar 2009 season, Del Potro reeled off three straight wins over Nadal in Miami, Montreal, and at the U.S. Open and who knows if that run would have continued if he hadn’t suffered a wrist injury that knocked him out of the game for much of 2010. He’s slowly worked his way back since then and much like Nadal’s knees questions continue to plague Del Potro as to the status of his wrist. “I’m okay. I’m getting closer to be 100%,” he said this week.
Recovery will be key for Del Potro’s chances in the final. He spent five hours and 22 minutes on court beating Murray and Djokovic, will be playing his third match in three days in near-100 degree heat, while Nadal only took three hours and seven minutes to get through Federer and Berdych and benefitted from a day off in between. Surprisingly, it is only Del Potro’s second ATP Masters 1000 final of his career. As for the game plan against Nadal, Del Potro could only offer a sheepish smile.
“Everything perfect.” Alrighty then. That sounds simple enough.
Prediction: Nadal in three sets.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Ah, the moonball. The offensive lobbing tactic is a regular staple at junior events but rarely used on the professional level. But it took center stage as Caroline Wozniacki mounted her comeback from a set down to beat Angelique Kerber in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals. After a first set that saw Kerber blasting Wozniacki off the court and feeding off pace to redirect winners, Wozniacki used the high-arching ball with more frequency in an attempt to get Kerber out of position and goad her into making errors. The tactical changed worked. Kerber admitted she was surprised to get so many off-pace balls and struggled when she tried to step in and hit them for winners. Wozniacki went on to win 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 to advance to Sunday’s final.
At one point in the third set the two engaged in a 48-shot rally that lasted over a minute, exchanging sky-high moonballs that soared off the screen and earned repeated chuckles from the crowd. Check out the video.
The WTA needs to buy the video rights to that rally to ensure it never gets released to the public again. #BNPPO13—
Beyond The Baseline (@SI_BTBaseline) March 16, 2013
Maria Sharapova watched some of the match as she waited to get on court. “It was interesting shot selection. I don’t know. You’re not there, so when you’re watching TV it seemed a little odd from the TV, but I’m sure there was a reason why during the point that was done. But they looked like they were really high and they all kept going in. I was like, that’s a really good effort,” she said laughing. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“I was trying to figure out a way to win,” Wozniacki said. “And it doesn’t really matter how, you know? It’s just important to win the points, basically. I felt like I got some nice points out of it, and I felt like I could go from defense to offense that way as well.”
“It’s a game of chess. It’s a game of finding out where is the toughest for the opponent to get to the ball.”
Kerber, clearly disappointed after the loss summed up her night thusly: “It’s a different style of game, but it’s tennis.”
Twitter lit up during the match, with fans and pundits reveling in the the sublime absurdity of some of the rallies. Here are some of the best tweets from “Moonballgate 2013″:
Caro just pulled out a page from her Warsaw 12 & Under marathon victory over Kerber: a double moonball & drop shot winner combo—
Matt Cronin (@TennisReporters) March 16, 2013
Wozniacki's last moonball lasted longer than the Isner-Mahut match—
Ricky Dimon (@RD_Tennistalk) March 16, 2013
"The emergence of the moonball, thought to be long extinct. No, it's alive and well here at Indian Wells." Skinner is in RARE form.—
unseeded & looming (@unseededlooming) March 16, 2013
My fav comment was Lindsay Davenport saying she was "rendered speechless"by that moonball sequence.#BNPPO13—
linda martin (@lindasportsfan) March 16, 2013
The peanut gallery dislikes off pace/moon balls, but I don't remember reading anywhere that it's illegal. Junk ball is part of the sport.—
Douglas Robson (@dougrobson) March 16, 2013
Juniors stop moonballing for one reason: it's ineffective. Better players solve it. But if it worked, they would not stop.—
Douglas Robson (@dougrobson) March 16, 2013
I understand, I really do. I hated playing moonballers. Drove me crazy. Aesthetically unappealing. In the end, it's about the W, right?—
Douglas Robson (@dougrobson) March 16, 2013
Anything you can moonball I can moonball better.—
Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) March 16, 2013
@SI_BTBaseline it's the players who don't grasp competition who decry legit techniques such as the moonball.—
Joel Drucker (@joeldrucker) March 16, 2013
"Oh thank god." — The Moon.—
Courtney Nguyen (@FortyDeuceTwits) March 16, 2013
Maria Sharapova is in her third Indian Wells final (2006, 2012). (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Two former champions (and former No. 1s) will vie for the BNP Paribas Open title when Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki face off in the final on Sunday.
Wozniacki, the 2011 champion and No. 8 seed, upended No. 4 Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 to make her third Indian Wells final. No. 2 seed Sharapova, a winner here in 2006, took care of No. 13 Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-3 to maker her second straight Indian Wells final. With the win, Sharapova will displace Victoria Azarenka as the No. 2 player on the WTA Tour on Monday.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — There was no roar from Rafael Nadal after he beat Roger Federer 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday night. In front of a capacity crowd, Nadal punctuated the victory with a simple fist pump before walking to the net to greet Federer.
“He told me he’s happy that I’m back,” Nadal said of the pleasantries exchanged at the net. “He just congratulated me and [I] asked him [about] his back. He told me, ‘No, I’m fine.’ “
Rafael Nadal had little trouble with Roger Federer at Indian Wells, beating him in just under an hour and a half. (Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — In a match that failed to live up the hype, Rafael Nadal rolled over an injured Roger Federer 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. Nadal improved to 19-10 against his longtime rival and advanced to his seventh consecutive Indian Wells semifinal, where he’ll face Tomas Berdych.
A few thoughts on the match:
• Rafa’s back: I was hesitant to buy into the notion that Nadal had returned to his top-five form even after he dominated David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in the Mexican Open final two weeks ago. Sure, he played great and beat a top-five player, but that was on clay, the surface he rules with an iron fist pump. But cooling off Ernests Gulbis in three sets in the fourth round here and turning around a day later to put in a strong performance against Federer is a resounding proclamation of his return to form.
Victoria Azarenka fell from No. 1 to No. 2 when Serena Williams passed her in February. (Icon SMI)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Maria Sharapova has a chance to regain the No. 2 ranking after a day of withdrawals that saw defending champion Victoria Azarenka (ankle) and 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur (leg) pull out from the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.
Azarenka was set to play Caroline Wozniacki in the afternoon that would have been their meeting first in two years. Azarenka came into the tournament carrying a right ankle injury that she picked up in Dubai. Sporting kinesio tape on her lower leg, she looked hobbled in her fourth-round win over Urszula Radwanska, on the verge of tears during the match.
Murray rips foe’s ‘ridiculous’ grunting
Ernests Gulbis has risen from No. 136 to No. 67 this year (Charles Baus/Icon SMI).
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal put an end to Ernests Gulbis’ 13-match win streak Wednesday, defeating the Latvian qualifier 4-6, 7-6. 7-5 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open. Since losing in an ATP Challenger in Bergamo, Italy, at the beginning of February, Gulbis has only lost three times, each to a top-10 player (Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin del Potro and now Nadal). Asked whether he felt players feared his top-10 form, Gulbis laughed.
“Who’s gonna [say], ‘Hey, Ernests, I’m scared of you?’” he said. ”No, I try to not pay attention to it. It’s tough to have good, nice relationships on the tour. Unfortunately, everybody is a little bit — they congratulate you but with a look in their eye that they don’t mean it.
Del Potro eyes meeting with new pope, fellow Argentine
Juan Martin del Potro will play Andy Murray in the quarterfinals on Friday. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Juan Martin del Potro hopes to meet Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine, when he plays the Italian Open in Rome in May. The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, was the first non-European elected to lead the Catholic church.
“I’m very Catholic, so I like this decision,” Del Potro said after his 6-1, 6-2 fourth-round win over Tommy Haas at the BNP Paribas Open. ”For me and for our country and for Argentinian people, it’s so big. Was so impressive for us when they mentioned the new pope and also his name. I think he deserve to be there, so it’s very nice for us.
Watch Del Potro, Djokovic exchange tweeners on same point
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