The finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells produced two champions, both of whom defeated the favoured player in their matches.
Naomi Osaka dropped the opening service game of the match, but after that was in complete control of Daria Kasatkina (20).
Kasatkina had displayed the best tennis throughout the tournament, but in the semi final was pushed to the limit by Venus Williams. Osaka, by contrast, took top seed Simona Halep to the cleaners in their semi final, and was clearly peaking at the right time.
Her powerful game was unable to be challenged by Kasatkina in much the same way Halep failed.
Errors flowed from the Russian racquet more frequently as the match progressed.
The many winners from Osaka came predominantly from her forehand but as her confidence rose the backhand became almost as lethal.
The serve was dominant, only one break point needing to be saved after the opening game. Breaking serve in the eighth game, the Japanese number one cruised to a 6-3 lead.
In the second set, Osaka lost just three points on her serve throughout.
She broke the Kasatkina serve twice to lead 5-1, and there was no problem serving out the match 6-3 6-2.
This was the first title for Osaka, and what a big one to capture as the breakthrough.
The Miami Open follows immediately , and it is also a Premier Mandatory tournament. The draw there is harsh for Osaka, with Serena Williams as her first round opponent. If she wins that, fourth seed Svitolina is the second round challenge.
Although now ranked 22 in the world, Osaka is unseeded in Miami as seedings were assigned prior to today.
13 of the past 14 Indian Wells Masters 1000 titles had been won by either Federer Djokovic or Nadal, and Juan Martin del Potro had yet to win any trophy at this level, so the Argentine entered the 2018 final against top seed Federer as the underdog.
However, like Osaka had done with Kasatkina, del Potro (6) outplayed the favourite Federer in the opening set. His renowned forehand was working well, and while Federer was targeting the backhand, that obvious tactic wasn’t bearing much fruit. Instead the sixth seed was, for the most part, moving Federer around the court and drawing him into error on sufficient occasion to break serve once and take the set 6-4.
Thereafter the match was decided with tiebreaks.
Set two gave del Potro a match point at 8-7 in the tiebreak with Federer serving, but a South American forehand error saved the top seed, who proceeded to win the next two points as well and win the set.
Set three saw Roger break and serve for the match at 5-4.
He had three match point chances and must have had celebrations in the back of his mind. Not so fast thought del Potro who saved them all and eventually levelled at 5-5.
The tiebreak included two double faults from Roger, and that was enough for Juan Martin to coast to victory 6-4 6-7(8) 7-6(2).
With his maiden Masters 1000 triumph, del Potro adds another chapter to his tennis story and moves up to number six in the world rankings.
Without his past injury woes, he is now back where he always belonged, challenging amongst the elite in men’s tennis.
Federer lost, but only just, and should start favourite in Miami.
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