Norrie and Badosa win in Indian Wells

Norrie and Badosa win in Indian Wells Image

Cameron Norrie and Paula Badosa are sensational winners of Indian Wells as both played perfectly well in the past 10 days for the biggest trophies in their careers.

Cameron Norrie became the first Briton to win the Indian Wells title when he fought back from a set and a break down to beat Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Norrie won 3-6 6-4 6-1 against the Georgian to seal one of the biggest titles on the ATP tour.

His perfect performance in California has propelled Norrie to British number one and he is in the running to reach the elite season-ending ATP Finals.

Norrie will rise to a career-high 16th in the world, having started the year ranked 74th, after a stunning season where he has reached six finals and won 47 matches.

"I'm so happy, I can't even describe it," said Norrie after the match.

"I can't really believe it. If you'd have told me I'd have won before the tournament started I wouldn't have believed you, so it's amazing," said Norrie, who is the first British player to reach the final at one of the elite Masters 1,000 events since Andy Murray won in Paris in 2016.

Only world number one Novak Djokovic has been in as many finals this year as Norrie, whose versatility has taken him to finals on hard, clay and grass courts.

His maiden ATP singles trophy came in July when he won the Los Cabos Open in Mexico and he has now backed that up with one of the most prestigious tour titles outside the four Grand Slams.

The women’s tournament brought another sensation as Paula Badosa beat Victoria Azarenka in a thriller final to win the prestigious Indian Wells title on her tournament debut.

Azarenka produced an impressive second set but Badosa eventually came out on top to win 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 7-6 (7-2) in three hours and four minutes.

It is the 23-year-old's second WTA tour title after May's Belgrade victory.

Belarusian Azarenka, 32, served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set before Badosa broke back.

The former world number one was aiming to become the first woman to win the tournament three times but the Spaniard managed to reach her biggest career win.

"I think it was a really tough match," Badosa said in the press. "I think it was a really good one as well, because she played an amazing level. I think I had to rise to a high level every set. At the third set, I think I played my best. It was the only option if I wanted to win, so I'm really proud of it.”

"The first thing that I've learned this week is that nothing is impossible. If you fight, if you work, after all these years, you can achieve anything. That's the first message that I see that could happen. And to dream. Sometimes you have tough moments. In my case, I have been through tough moments. I never stopped dreaming. That's what kept me working hard and believing until the last moment.”

"I'm very happy about what's happening. I'm a little bit still in shock what happened today because winning a tournament like this, it's always been a dream."

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