WTA: Youngster finals in Indian Wells: Daria Kasatkina and Naomi Osaka shine

Daria Kasatkina and Naomi Osaka are in the final of the WTA Premier Mandatory Tournament in Indian Wells. While the 20-year-old Russian beat Venus Williams in three sets, Simona Halep from Japan of the same age left only three games to play.

The generation change on the women’s tour is in full swing: After almost three hours of play, Daria Kasatkina beat WTA legend Venus Williams 4:6, 6:4 and 7:5 on Saturday night.

Naomi Osaka then made short work of world number one Simona Halep: with 6:3 and 6:0 she swept over the Romanian like a desert storm in just 64 minutes. I often missed the ball and didn’t play the game I should have played,” Halep said: “I’m not looking for excuses. She was better.”

Kerber defeater Kasatkina gave the decisive pinprick at 5:5 in the final round: “Somehow I managed it. It was just instinct,” the young Russian commented on the trend-setting break. A backhand error by the 37-year-old American brought her the greatest success of her career to date.

Kasatkina thus continued her run against former and current Grand Slam winners: In Indian Wells she had promoted Sloane Stephens and Melbourne Queen Caroline Wozniacki out of the title race alongside Kerber and Williams.

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