BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells

[30] Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) vs. [175] Kayla Day (USA)

Day is one of thirteen players to receive a wild card at this tournament and she has taken full advantage of her opportunity.  Why is she capable of playing at this level at such a young age?  Once a frequent occurrence to see lots of teenagers on tour, the rules have changed and now they can only play a select number of tournaments per year; thus, it takes longer for their game to develop and seeing this type of performance has become a rarity.  Day took out the #85 ranked player in R1 and followed it up today with the biggest win of her young career when she defeated Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

She appears quite mature despite her age, 17 years; is very savvy about what she needs to do to win; but more important, she held her nerves at the most critical juncture of the match, something many veterans still struggle with even after years on tour.  Lucic-Baroni was feeling the pressure more than her young opponent, after all, she was the one expected to win.  Serving for the match, she cracked and that was all Day needed.  She broke again at 5-5 as her opponent continued to unravel. When you are young and fearless, you can sometimes rattle established players when you go for shots that aren’t expected, which often catches your opponent by surprise.  Day did not panic after dropping the second set and I was impressed by her ability to recognize what she had done wrong to lose the set. It does not get any easier for the teenager, can she continue to delight the American fans?

SOURCE OF IMAGE: Zimbio