Elena Vesnina Battles Back for BNP Paribas Title
Elena Vesnina reacts after winning the BNP Paribas Open
INDIAN WELLS, CA - In front of a packed house at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Elena Vesnina battled back to win the BNP Paribas Open Championship on Sunday afternoon. After dropping a first set tiebreaker, Vesnina stormed back to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-4.
In the same tournament last year, Vesnina was dealt an early loss in the first round of qualification so the turnaround is incredible. The match went over three hours and at the end the world #15 now adds a third singles trophy to her collection.
After splitting the first two sets, Kuznetsova held a 4-1 lead in the third set over Vesnina but slowly let the lead slip. Elena held for her serve and was then able to break Svetlana to bring the match to 4-3. Again Vesnina held on serve and then broke her fellow Russian to take a 5-4 lead. She finished the match off on her service game, and winning the last five games of the match.
This was only the fourth women's final to go to three sets in the 16 year history of the tournament at Indian Wells. It is also the longest women's match in BNP Paribas Open history.
