BNP PARIBAS OPEN Indian Wells, CA, USA March 7-18, 2012 $5,536,664/Premier Hard/Outdoors
Friday, March 16, 2012
Singles - Semifinals (1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (18) Angelique Kerber (GER) 64 63 (2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (15) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 64 01 ret. (left hip injury) Doubles - Semifinals (1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) 61 62 \bnp.com
The women’s final at the BNP Paribas Open will feature the world’s Top 2 players, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, in their first meeting since the championship match at the Australian Open.
Azarenka reached her first final at this WTA Premier Event with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Angelique Kerber on Friday evening, while 2006 champion Sharapova advanced after Ana Ivanovic retired in the second set with a hip injury.
Azarenka holds a 4-3 edge over Sharapova in their head-to-head series, following her recent victory over the 24-year-old Russian in Melbourne. She has won all three of their final meetings in straight sets.
“She's definitely the one to beat right now, someone that's playing with a lot of confidence and all the momentum in the world,” said Sharapova. “I'd love to get my revenge from Australia and play much better, as well. In our previous meetings we have had really tough matches, and I hope that the quality of tennis will be good and hopefully change a few things around. But it's nice to have that opportunity again and to be in the final of this tournament.”
In the evening’s first semi-final, Azarenka countered losing her serve three times by going six for nine on her break point chances during the one hour, 28-minute match.
“I really was impressed by the way Angelique was playing,” said the top-seeded Belarusian. “I think she showed some excellent tennis. It was the first time we played on the pro tour, so it was a little bit new for me. I think she's a great player, and she really pushed me to raise my level and really dig to win that match.”
The 22-year-old Azarenka, who is now 22-0 on the season, will be attempting to win her fourth straight title after her triumphs at Sydney, the Australian Open and Doha. Including her final appearances at Luxembourg and the WTA Championships to conclude the 2011 season, she has now reached six straight finals.
Sharapova will be going for her 25th WTA title, and her first since last summer in Cincinnati. She had won the opening set against Ivanovic 6-4 after 64 minutes and was serving at 0-1 down in the second when the 2008 champion retired from the match.
“It was unfortunate that it had to end this way,” said Sharapova. “I thought towards the end of the [first] set we started playing really good, high quality tennis. It was a surprise. I didn't notice anything was wrong until she called for that medical timeout. Obviously I would have loved to have finished the match the right way, but I am happy after a long match yesterday that I got a little shorter one today.”
This will be just the third time since 2005 that the tour’s top two players will be facing off in the final.
