Indefatigable Vesnina wins marathon Indian Wells final

Elena Vesnina, who lost in the first round of qualifying a year ago at the BNP Paribas Open, completed a dramatic turnaround on Sunday when won the women’s championship in a marathon match against fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

INDIAN WELLS-Elena Vesnina denied Venus Williams another comeback win, while Kristina Mladenovic roared back from a set and a break down to beat Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Pavlyuchenkova outplayed Kuznetsova in their fourth round meeting at the Australian Open, nevertheless, the eighth seed overpowered her compatriot, 6-3, 6-2.

Vesnina reeled off four straight games to lead 5-4.

After a dramatic game, Wawrinka managed to eliminate Dominic Thiem from Austria with 2-1 in sets, 6-4 4-6 7-6.

The 30-year-old Vesnina withstood a fierce three-hour fight with her good friend earning her third career singles title, including her first Premier Mandatory crown, and the champion’s check of $1.175 million.

The 24-year-old American finally broke through against a top-five ranked opponent after losing his first seven matches against such competition.

In the ladies tournament we saw and equally exciting match between Elena Vesnina and Venus Williams.

Sock, meanwhile, is moving on to the semifinal after he defeated Kei Nishikori 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 Friday afternoon. “I felt like she was playing very fast, very aggressive”. It’s her first time advancing past the third round in the desert. “It was first time I saw it, I was, like, ‘Whoa, I really, really want to play this tournament.’ I was dreaming just to get here”.

“This was the biggest final and today, it was big”, Vesnina said.

Kuznetsova is 0-3 in finals here, also finishing runner-up in 2007 and 2008. “I hope I can enjoy it and hope I can show the best tennis as well in the final”. “So I need to be aggressive and I need to dominate the points because he’s really unsafe with his forehand”.

“Eventually, you’re playing those great matches better and better and give yourself a chance to win them, and then the ranking obviously follows”. Mladenovic later began pushing Vesnina, saving one match point while serving down 5-2.

Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka met in an all-Swiss men’s final later.