Carlos Alcaraz is back in top form.
The Spaniard surged past World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 on Sunday to retain the BNP Paribas Open title. It is the 20-year-old’s first title since he triumphed at Wimbledon last year.
Since capturing his second Grand Slam title last July, Alcaraz had done very well – a final in Cincinnati and four more semifinals, including at the US Open and ATP Finals – but now, in the desert, he’s back in the winner’s circle.
Alcaraz became the first man to defend his Indian Wells title since Novak Djokovic won three in a row from 2014-16. He beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 last year in the Southern California desert.
Iga Swiatek rolled to her second BNP Paribas Open title by toppling Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0. Swiatek won the final eight games of the match Sunday to knock off Sakkari for the second time in two years in Indian Wells.
Swiatek hit 15 winners and had 11 unforced errors in the 1 hour, 8-minute match. Sakkari had eight winners and 18 unforced errors.
It was a repeat of the 2022 final, in which Swiatek beat Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. Sakkari hasn’t defeated the Polish star since 2021.
“I’m really proud of myself,” Swiatek said afterwards. “I’m super happy. I mean, even though this tournament looked like, the scores, maybe I had everything under control, it wasn’t from the beginning to the end so easy.
“So I’m happy I could improve during the tournament. I felt really good on the last two matches, big amount of confidence.”
It’s no secret that doubles pairs at the pro level change partners a lot, and that led to the unique situation in Friday’s men’s final at the BNP Paribas Open. Heading into the match, it was clear someone was going to win his second title in Indian Wells.
It turned out to be Nikola Mektic from Croatia.
Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic bagged their third title of the season by downing Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), in the final of the BNP Paribas Open. They are trending upwards, indeed. The titles for the former No. 1s came at a 250-level event, a 500 and a 1000 – in that order. The way they played in the desert, taking that next step and bagging a Grand Slam together isn’t out of the question.
Koolhof won his first title in Indian Wells after losing last year’s final. Mektic got his second – winning in 2019 with Zeballos.
Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei & Elise Mertens from Belgium claimed their second BNP Paribas Open doubles title after beating Australia’s Storm Hunter & Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic, 6-3 6-4, in Saturday’s final.
The title is Mertens’ 20th career doubles title and Hsieh’s 34th. This is the fourth Indian Wells title for Hsieh and her second with Mertens. The two first lifted the trophy together in 2021. Hsieh also won the title in 2014 (w/ Peng) and 2018 (w/ Strycova). Mertens has now won Indian Wells three times, having won her first with Aryna Sabalenka in 2019.
Having just watched Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek winning the Indian Wells Masters, attention now turns to part 2 of the Sunshine Double, the 2024 Miami Open, where World No 1 Iga Swiatek and defending champion Daniil Medvedev will be the headlines.
The Miami Open couldn’t have asked for a more spectacular start than this. Feast your eyes on the star-studded matchups scheduled for Day 1 in Miami:
- Seven-time major champion Venus Williams plays Diana Shnaider.
- Caroline Wozniacki, a quarterfinalist at Indian Wells, meets Clara Burel.
- Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, faces Wang Xiyu.
- Simona Halep, returning for the first time since the 2022 US Open, plays Paula Badosa.