By Chris Oddo | Friday March 15, 2019
Angelique Kerber eased past red-hot Belinda Bencic on Friday night at Indian Wells, snapping the Swiss’ 12-match losing streak to book her spot in her first BNP Paribas Open final, 6-4, 6-2.
The German, making her 10th career main draw appearance in the California desert, won 10 of the final 12 games to notch her second consecutive tour-level win over the Swiss, and booked a spot alongside teenage sensation Bianca Andreescu in the final.
Earlier on Friday Andreescu became the first wild card to ever reach the final at Indian Wells and the youngest finalist in 20 years when she defeated Elina Svitolina in three tight sets.
"She beat tough opponents," Kerber said of the 18 year-old. "She has nothing to lose. She will enjoy the final. Like me, I will also go out there and try to play like I played the last matches."
Kerber and Bencic's semi-final lacked the drama of Andreescu and Svitolina’s spirited tilt, thanks in part to Kerber’s ruthless play. Bencic struggled to make a dent against Kerber’s relentless counterpunching and faded from contention slowly but surely as Kerber took over.
“She took my weapons away with how she was playing against me,” Bencic said of her frequent practice partner. “So I think she did that well. Obviously she's a great baseline player, so she's not gonna miss. Definitely she put the wall mode on.”
Bencic was serving exceptionally at Indian Wells through the quarter-finals, but she couldn’t manage much from the service stripe on Friday. She was broken seven times in her nine service games and never managed to pick up any momentum against Kerber.
"She really came out and play good tennis," Kerber said. "I was finding my rhythm a little bit, like especially in the first few games. And then I start to stepping in a little bit and playing really aggressive. I think that was the key that I really took the match in my hand, and I was going for it. That was also the game plan, to really playing my tennis again."
The Swiss won just 17 of 48 points in serve, which basically negated the progress she made on return. She broke four times in nine return games, but once she fell behind in the opening set the match felt like one-way traffic for Kerber.
Kerber had to rally from 4-1 down in the third set to take out Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16, but since then she has won two consecutive straight-set matches, defeating Venus Williams in the quarter-finals before taking out Bencic today.
The German is into her 29th career final and will bid to become the first woman from her country to win the title at Indian Wells since Steffi Graf in 1996.