WTA : INDIAN WELLS REVIEW

WTA has concluded play at Indian Wells, United States where Simona Halep won her first premier mandatory title. Serena Williams, who was playing for the first time in fourteen years, withdrew from the tournament in the semifinals due to a right knee injury which gave Halep a walkover to the final. She addressed the crowd explaining the reason for not playing. In the final, Halep was playing on three day rest and it showed in her play throughout the entire match against Jelena Jankovic. She managed to find a way to win the match on determination despite being a set and a break down three times in the second set and a break down two times in the third set. Halep got a medical timeout after the first set due to injuring her left ankle. Jankovic admitted after the match that she got nervous when she served for the match in the second set. Now, the WTA moves to Miami, United States where Halep is going to attempt to win Miami. If she wins Miami, she would be the first person to accomplish the goal since Kim Clijsters in 2005.

 Player of the week is Simona Halep. She won her first career premier mandatory event. There were questions on whether she was going to play due to the death of her cousin reported to have committed suicide. This tournament may give her the confidence that she can win despite not playing her best. She said she learned a lesson after not fighting for every point in her loss to Ekaterina Makarova at Australian Open.

Honorable mention

(1)    Jelena Jankovic – After coming to tournament with a record of 2-4 and dealing with an injury, she made the finals winning four of her matches in three sets highlighted by her win over Madison Keys, who made the Australian Open semifinals.

(2)    Sabine Lisicki – She came into the tournament with a record of 1-6 and no career match wins in Indian Wells.  She made the semifinals and in the process, she defeated three Italian players including the defending champion, Flavia Pennetta, who got the upset of the tournament defeating Maria Sharapova.

 

Previous player of week

Week 10: Heather Watson – Getting first Top 10 win of career defeating Agnieszka Radwanska

Week 9: Timea Bacsinszky – Monterrey winner defeating Caroline Garcia

Week 8: Lucie Safarova – Doha winner defeating Victoria Azarenka

Week 7: Karolina Pliskova – Dubai finalist losing to Simona Halep

Week 6: Daniela Hantuchova – Pattaya winner defeating Ajla Tomljanovic.

Week 5: Andrea Petkovic – Led Germany to Fed Cup semifinals

Week 4: Serena Williams – Australian Open winner defeating Maria Sharapova

Week 3: Madison Keys – Defeated two seeds including Petra Kvitova, who was seeded 4

Week 2: Heather Watson – Hobart winner defeating Madison Brengle

Week 1: Venus Williams - Auckland winner defeating Caroline Wozniacki

 

There will be another post by The Spin team discussing the draw at Miami as main draw play starts on Tuesday.