Alexander: Dominic Thiem, Bianca Andreescu serve up youth at Indian Wells championships

INDIAN WELLS — On a Championship Sunday at Indian Wells that turned out to be reserved for the young, what was more impressive? Dominic Thiem’s denial of a 101st career championship for Roger Federer, or Bianca Andreescu’s first WTA singles title?

No contest. Sorry, Dominic, but the first one is always extra special, and the Cinderella aspect of Andreescu’s feat put it over the top.

Thiem’s accomplishment should not be discounted. The 25-year-old from Austria lost the first set to Federer, the No. 4 seed who got a free pass into Sunday’s final when Rafael Nadal withdrew because of injury, but he broke Federer’s serve early in the second set and powered his way from there to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 decision in 2 hours, 2 minutes. It was Thiem’s 12th tournament title, and his first in three finals in the Masters 1000 series.

But Thiem, who was seeded seventh here and will rise in the rankings from eighth to fourth with this victory, didn’t come out of nowhere. Andreescu did.

The 18-year-old Canadian was ranked 179th in the world at the start of the year but completed her march to the women’s title by outlasting No. 8 Angelique Kerber, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and becoming Indian Wells’ second straight unexpected singles finalist.

The bar has been set high here on the women’s side. Naomi Osaka, as we have previously noted, won her first career title here last year and went on to win the U.S. Open and Australian Open.

“No pressure,” Andreescu said with a smile.

“It’s definitely inspiration. Seeing her claim the trophy last year and winning two Grand Slams right after that has been amazing to see. But … I don’t really want to focus on the future right now. I just want to enjoy this moment, because I don’t want to take anything for granted. You never know what next week brings. I just want to savor this.”

Playing in only her eighth WTA main draw, Andreescu became the first wild card to win the tournament and the youngest since Serena Williams (17 years, 169 days) in 1999. She is now 29-3 in matches won since New Year’s Eve, which includes a tournament final in Auckland, N.Z., and a title in an Oracle Challenger tournament at Newport Beach that helped get her the wild card here.

She will be ranked 24th this week, though that doesn’t change the fact she’ll be unseeded in Miami and will have to play a first-round match Wednesday. She will bank a winner’s check here of $1,354,010, which dwarfs her previous career earnings of $350,909.

And then there’s the cut glass trophy.

“It’s, like, 40 pounds,” she said. “Thank God I didn’t drop it during the ceremony. That would have been a story to remember.”

On top of everything else?

This was memorable not just for the achievement but for the way Andreescu accomplished it. She dealt with cramps again, as she had during her semifinal victory over Elina Svitolina Friday night, and at one point a trainer was applying ice to both her legs during a changeover.

Yet she was at her best when it was needed most. Down 3-2 in the third set, Andreescu got a visit from her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, during a changeover and it had a positive effect. She won nine straight points and 14 of 16 to go from down 3-2 to up 5-3, and while she let three match points get away on her serve, she closed out the match on Kerber’s serve, collapsing in exhaustion and joy when Kerber hit a backhand into the net on match point No. 4.

“In that moment, after I spoke to my coach, I just let it all out there,” Andreescu said. “At that point I was really tired, so I went for my shots more, and that obviously worked. I just fought till the end, because physically I wasn’t feeling too well.”

She may have limped to the finish line, but she got there. It will be a tale she’ll be able to tell for years, and it’s safe to assume there are more chapters to come.

“It’s crazy what a year can do,” she said. “I was playing 25Ks in Japan, and now I’m the – can I say the F-word? No, I can’t. The … champion of Indian Wells.”

Thiem reacted with similar wonderment. He’d had to bow out of a match in Australia because of illness and, though he reached a semifinal in Buenos Aires last month, “came from really bad form in all categories,” he said. “And now I’m the champion of Indian Wells. It feels not real at all.”

Thiem is most at home on clay but said he loves the conditions here. He didn’t drop a set until Saturday, when he outlasted Milos Raonic in a three-set match in which neither player seemed able to handle the other guy’s serve. Sunday, the match turned when he broke Federer to go up 3-1 in the second set. And it tilted inexorably in Thiem’s favor when he broke Federer again in the third to go up 6-5, powering a forehand to win the set after retrieving two Federer drop shots to win points

“What makes me happy is that I turned a pretty bad start to the season to a very good one,” Thiem said.

Meanwhile, Federer was philosophical, as befits a 37-year-old who has seen a lot: “Sure, it’s frustrating and disappointing and sad to some extent. But look, I’ve been in these positions so many times that I get over it very quickly.”

After all, Miami awaits.

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