History could be made Sunday in both the women’s and men’s singles finals of the the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament.
After an improbable run at Indian Wells, the 18-year-old Canadian up-and-comer Bianca Andreescu who is the first wild card to make the tournament’s final round, where she will face Angelique Kerber of Germany for the first time.
The veteran left-hander finds herself on the opposite end of the career trajectory as Andreescu, with 28 finals appearances under her belt, 10 of which were at Indian Wells.
For Andreescu this will be her first finals. To get here, she had to beat top-20 seeds in Wang Qiang and Garbine Muguruza, which she did in straight sets, as well as sixth-ranked Elina Svitolina in the semifinals.
Kerber has shown just as much dominance, dropping only two sets all tournament, and beating top-ranked Naomi Osaka along the way.
While audiences didn’t get to see the much-anticipated Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer semifinal showdown Saturday after Nadal withdrew with a knee injury, fans still have a chance to witness history in the men’s singles final, which begins at 3:30 p.m.
A well-rested Federer will be pursuing a record-breaking sixth title, but he will have to fend off Austrian Dominic Thiem, who is coming off a 2-hour-31-minute semifinal victory over Canadian Milos Raonic on Saturday, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Thiem has only faced Federer four times, and the pair have evenly split the victories.
This will be Thiem’s first finals appearance at Indian Wells.
The winners of the tournament will take home $1,354,010 while the runners-up earn $686,000.