Serena Williams: ‘I had to find my inner tiger, and roar’ at Indian Wells

World No 1 Serena Williams stepped up her bid for her first Indian Wells title in 15 years with a straight set victory over Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 on Sunday.

The two-time Indian Wells champion Williams had a difficult time with Putintseva in the opening set but then steamrolled through the second to wrap up the win in one hour, 15 minutes.

“The first set was a little tricky, then I had to find my inner tiger, and roar,” Williams said.

Williams moves on to the fourth round of the hardcourt tournament where she will face Kateryna Bondarenko who defeated Lesia Tsurenko 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) earlier on Sunday.

Williams has a chance to become the first three-time winner in women’s singles at Indian Wells, a feat she failed to achieve last year when she was forced to withdraw from her semi-final match with a knee injury.

Williams, who won the event in 1999 and 2001, returned to the tournament last year, ending a 14-year boycott which began after she beat Kim Clijsters in the 2001 final.

That year spectators at Indian Wells booed Serena during the final and jeered her sister and father Richard Williams in the stands.

As the top seed and a 21 grand slam title winner, she’s the clear favourite this week.

Her quest was boosted Saturday with the elimination of two of the top five seeds in the women’s draw, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza.

Although Williams got off to another slow start Sunday she closed out in style with an ace on match point.

She needed a tiebreaker to win the first set, taking the final three points, including the last two on her serve.

“I was just trying to find my rhythm out there. Trying my best to not get off to a slow start,” she said. “I was just trying to fight and do what I could.”

World No 3 Agnieszka Radwanska breezed past Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-1 to reach the fourth round.

The third seed from Poland needed just 87 minutes to eliminate Niculescu following a tough two-hour, 41-minute second round contest which she won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 over Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.

“I knew I would have to be patient,” Radwanska said of playing Niculescu. “I am just very happy to win that match in those two quick sets.”

Radwanska is hoping to get back to the Indian Wells final for the first time since losing the championship match to Flavia Pennetta two years ago.

In men’s action, Japanese star Kei Nishikori eased through his second round match by beating Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.

The 26-year-old Nishikori, seeded fifth in his eighth appearance in Indian Wells, has never made it past the fourth round in the California desert.

“It is not easy playing the first match of any tournament,” Nishikori said. “But I felt comfortable today. So I hope I can go further than the last couple of years.”

Nishikori, who has been ranked as high as fourth in the world to become the highest ranked Asian player in ATP history, moves on to the third round where he will face either American Steve Johnson or Australia’s John Millman.

Nishikori won 71 per cent of his first serve points and broke Kukushkin’s serve four times in the 70-minute match.

“The first couple of games are the most important,” he said.

“I try not to hit too many crazy shots and get a good rhythm and if I feel good then go for shots and hit the ball a little harder,” added Nishikori, who last month defended his ATP title at Memphis for the fourth consecutive year, extending his win streak at the event to 17 matches.

In other matches Sunday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated French compatriot Vincent Millot 7-5, 6-1, Dominic Thiem beat Jozef Kovalik 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) and Sam Querrey stopped Thiemo de Bakker 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Serena Williams: ‘I had to find my inner tiger, and roar’ at Indian Wells

Serena Williams started slow but eventually hit her stride at Indian Wells on Sunday in a straight-sets win over Yulia Putintseva as she looks to capture a third title in the California desert long after her first two.

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