Player of the Week: Paula Badosa

This year's Indian Wells was missing world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams but it sure didn't lessen the excitement. From No. 21 seed to tournament champion, Paula Badosa fought her way through the desert storm.

In May, the 23-year-old won her first WTA Tour title at Belgrade before reaching her first major quarterfinal at Roland Garros. At the BNP Paribas Open she came up big against two-time major champion Victoria Azarenka. The final battle marked the two competitors first career meeting and Badosa dug deep to capture a 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(2) win.

Her tremendous run in the California desert saw Badosa to her first-career WTA 1000 triumph.

Badosa is now only the third woman in Indian Wells history to take home the title in her main-draw debut; the other two were Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and Serena Williams in 1999.

Kicking off the season at No. 87, she now sits at a career-high ranking of No. 13. On top of the rankings points and the beautiful piece of hardware, she also picked up $1.2 million in prize money.